It has been four-and-a-half years since Marcin Tybura defeated Serghei Spivac and the top-10 heavyweights are set to lock horns once again, this time in a main event set for five rounds this weekend at the UFC Apex.

Tybura earned a unanimous decision over Spivac on the prelims of a Fight Night card back in February of 2020, and both fighters have steadily climbed the heavyweight ranks since their initial meeting. Tybura is the No. 8 contender in the weight class and Spivac is No. 9 entering Saturday’s event.

Spivac has made many noticeable improvements since beginning his UFC tenure 1-2, but his two separate three-fight winning streaks he mounted after his loss to Tybura were snapped once he faced top-level competition. The first was three years ago to Tom Aspinall — only four of Aspinall’s opponents have lasted longer than Spivac did for what that’s worth — and he’s coming off a second-round technical knockout loss to Ciryl Gane 11 months ago.

Moldova’s Spivac faced Tybura at the age of 25 in just his third UFC fight. Tybura was 34 and already had nine UFC appearances at the time, including two against former champions, and his edge in experience was apparent.

Two of three judges gave all three rounds to Tybura in the relatively one-sided first meeting. Tybura’s most clear advantages were in the size, strength and positional grappling departments as he was able to use his weight and positioning to control his younger opponent, both on the ground and along the fence, for a good chunk of all three rounds.

Tybura, now 38, has gone 7-2 since beating Spivac, losing a decision to Alexander Volkov in 2021 and getting finished by Aspinall in just 73 seconds early last summer. The Polish fighter bounced back from his loss to the current interim champ with a submission victory over Tai Tuivasa in a March main event at the Apex.

There is that nine-year age gap, but Tybura and Spivac have identical height and reach, and both boast similar skill sets with near identical striking statistics. 

The 29-year-old Spivac has his best success when he is able to take down his opponents, but that won’t be an easy task against Tybura and his 79 per cent takedown defence.

Tybura had a 12-pound weight advantage over Spivac in the first meeting, however, that may not be the case in the rematch.

Spivac is only now coming into his physical prime, has packed on some size in recent years and will be bigger and stronger than he was the first time he fought Tybura. Spivac weighed 256 pounds ahead of his loss to Gane whereas Tybura is typically in the 245-250 range when he competes.

UNDERCARD OVERVIEW

Saturday’s card will proceed with only 10 scheduled matchups after a welterweight scrap between Jonny Parsons and Yusaku Kinoshita was cancelled when Parsons was pulled from the card for undisclosed reasons and a flyweight tilt between Allan Nascimento and Jafel Filho was also pulled due to Nascimento dealing with an illness.

Diniz aims to stay perfect in MMA: The headliners aren’t the only big fellas competing at the Apex this weekend. There is some heavyweight action on the prelims with the return of Brazil’s Jhonata Diniz. The former Glory kickboxer improved to 7-0 in mixed martial arts when he made a successful UFC debut in April. Diniz, 33, earned a second-round knockout of Austen Lane to maintain his 100 per cent finishing rate. He faces 10-1 Karl Williams, who smartly used his wrestling to land seven takedowns against Justin Tafa in a win earlier this year. 

Performance bonus contenders: If you’re looking for exciting fighters to monitor at this event look no further than welterweight Danny Barlow and featherweight Chepe Mariscal who face Nikolay Veretennikov and Damon Jackson, respectively, on the main card.

Barlow (8-0) was originally scheduled to face Uros Medic, but an injured Medic was replaced by UFC newcomer Veretennikov who, like Barlow, finishes most of his fights via KO/TKO. Veretennikov has won three in a row by finish and Barlow is coming off a highlight knockout of Josh Quinlan at UFC 298 in February.

Mariscal is a sneaky 3-0 in the UFC and has won six in a row overall. He won Fight of the Night for his awesome split decision over Morgan Charriere in April at the Apex. Jackson is always a tough out and Mariscal will not hesitate in trying to take the fight to him in what should be a FOTN contender.

Projected bout order below: 

MAIN CARD
— Marcin Tybura vs. Serghei Spivac

— Chris Gutiérrez vs. Quang Le

— Danny Barlow vs. Nikolay Veretennikov

— Damon Jackson vs. Chepe Mariscal

— Yana Santos vs. Chelsea Chandler

— Toshiomi Kazama vs. Charalampos Grigoriou

PRELIMINARY CARD

— Karol Rosa vs. Pannie Kianzad

— Jhonata Diniz vs. Karl Williams

— Youssef Zalal vs. Jarno Errens

— Stephanie Luciano vs. Talita Alencar