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Heavyweights
Maxim Grishin (30-7-2) vs. Marcin Tybura (18-6)It has certainly been an up and down UFC career for Poland’s Tybura. After a successful run in Poland and Russia, Tybura dropped his debut fight in the Octagon to Timothy Johnson, which showed the need for “Tybur” to adjust his approach; his dependency on wrestling would have to change against the bigger and stronger opponents that the UFC would often provide. Tybura flashed more willingness to strike against Viktor Pesta and even scored an impressive knockout, but he was back to relying on his wrestling in short order. That succeeded enough for Tybura to earn a headlining spot against Fabricio Werdum at the tail end of 2017, but he has experienced limited success in the years since. Tybura can still get easy wins over opponents like Stefan Struve and Sergey Spivak, but results like the 59-second knockout at the hands of Augusto Sakai suggest he will not re-establish himself as a contender. Tybura looks to build on the momentum from the Spivak win against a late replacement and newcomer in Grishin—a well-traveled Russian who made a run in the 2019 Professional Fighters League light heavyweight tournament. Grishin is large for a light heavyweight, so he should be able to hold his own on the size front, but he gets by on a low-output striking game and has not been much of a defensive wrestler. As a result, Tybura should be able to get his wrestling going and grind out a win. From there, Grishin can cut back down to 205 pounds, where he will be more of a going concern. The pick is Tybura via decision.
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