The lone heavyweight scrap on the UFC 267 card found the surging Marcin Tybura of Poland taking on former Bellator MMA champ Alexander Volkov.
Tybura entered the event on a five-fight win streak. He left it going back to the drawing board.
Volkov looked to set the distance with kicks early, but Tybura cracked the towering Russian with a left hand in an early exchange. Volkov’s reach was serving him well, but Tybura closed the distance firing. Just under two minutes in, Tybura clinched, briefly thought takedown but backed off. He’d go back to that well moments later, but couldn’t get the massive “Drago” down.
Throughout the round, Tybura showed frequent stance switches, but the size of Volkov, and his length, were an issue. And when the fight did go to the ground, it was Vokov getting it there, landing in half guard. He couldn’t do much damage before the end of the round, however.
Tybura continued to try to take Volkov down to open round two, but his double leg attempt was stuffed. The Polish heavyweight lead the dance, however, and Volkov showed some signs of slowing, though he’d fire off a knee in the clinch that hit the mark. Tybura kept on looking for that takedown, but even when he could clasp his hands around Volkov, he couldn’t complete the attempts. Another knee was fired by Volkov, that one just barely grazed Tybura.
After all those takedown attempts, Tybura had started to slow. He found a home for his left hand, however, and found some success in close.
Round three found Tybura still pressing forward, though at a slower pace. He again looked for a clinch, worked on a takedown, but couldn’t land it. The size of Volkov appeared to be just too much. In the final 90 seconds, after Volkov looked like he might secure a takedown of his own, the Russian got his hands going, landing several shots. Tybura hit home with a left hand, then fired off a spinning back-fist. Volkov was walking forward, firing combinations and a high kick in the final minute, finishing the fight strong.
Punches in bunches from @AlexDragoVolkov 😤
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— UFC (@ufc) October 30, 2021
With Tybura’s win streak snapped, he’ll need to regroup. With the win, Alexander Volkov bounces back from a loss earlier this year to current interim heavyweight champ Ciryl Gane.
Official Result: Alexander Volkov def. Marcin Tybura by unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 29-28)
