UFC Vegas 95 Preview
The UFC is heading back to the Apex in Las Vegas, Nevada on Saturday, August 10th for UFC Vegas 95. The main event will be a rematch in the heavyweight division between #8 Marcin Tybura and #9 Sergey Spivak. The two first fought in 2020 where Tybura won by unanimous decision.
The victory against Spivak sparked a five-fight winning streak for Tybura and he is 8-2 in his last 10 fights. He most recently defeated Tai Tuivasa by first round submission in March. That win was a big rebound from a first round TKO loss to current interim champion Tom Aspinall in 2023.
The Polish fighter discussed why he accepted a rematch with Spivak. "It's always excitement when the UFC calls, offers you a fight," Tybura said. "I've been here long and have lots of fights but is still the same. I know how UFC was a big dream for me, so when I get the call, I'm always excited. Sure, I rather fight somebody that gets me closer to the top, but I feel like you can gain something in every fight."
Even with a win on Saturday, Tybura is not thinking about title contention yet. "I've been in fights where I've been really close to getting there, and I didn't manage to do it, so right now I'm just trying to focus on the fight," Tybura said. "That's what I'm doing. It's like my fight with Tom Aspinall, which was two fights ago. Right now, it's like looking for some answers that I don't know yet and look to see to be a top five fighter."
Tybura talked about what will be different this time around against Spivak. “He for sure (improved),” Tybura said. “I saw a couple of his fights, and he had a very good performance using his skills, throwing his takedowns, making submissions. I can see he gained some weight, muscles mostly, so he’s more power, more strong. For sure, he’s a different fighter.”
The 38-year-old has been fighting in the UFC since 2016 and will be fighting for the 20th time since his debut. Aside from Spivak and Tuivasa, he has key victories over Blagoy Ivanov, Alexander Romanov, Walt Harris, Ben Rothwell, Stefan Struve and Andrei Arlovksi. A win on Saturday will position him nicely for a top five fight.
Spivak is trying to rebound from a second round TKO loss to Ciryl Gane last September. He is 7-3 in his last 10 fights and like Tybura could be 4-1 in his last five fights with a win on Saturday.
How does he feel about rematching with Tybura? “This is actually the first rematch of my career, so it’s not like I’ve felt this before. But I don’t think about it in any certain way. We’re just close to each other in the rankings, so it is just set for us to fight again. I’m going to come out, I’m going to fight. It’s just a sport. That’s the way I feel,” Spivak said.
He continued, “I wasn’t as experienced back then as I was now. I was very, very young. but I don’t want to look for excuses. He won. He won fair and square, and he did a great job back then. I think he still does a good job now. He’s a great fighter, so we’ll see what happens. But yeah, obviously it’s going to be a very different fight.”
The 29-year-old has been fighting in the UFC since 2019 and has key wins over Tai Tuivasa, Augusto Sakai and Derrick Lewis. If he emerges victorious from the rematch with Tybura he can look forward to another top five fight and prove he belongs in the title contention conversation.
The rest of the main card:
Bantamweight - Chris Gutiérrez vs. Quang Le
Welterweight - Danny Barlow vs. Nikolay Veretennikov
Featherweight - Damon Jackson vs. Chepe Mariscal
Women's Bantamweight - #12 Yana Santos vs. #14 Chelsea Chandler
Bantamweight - Toshiomi Kazama vs. Charalampos Grigoriou
ESPN+ Prelims:
Women's Bantamweight - #8 Karol Rosa vs. #11 Pannie Kianzad
Heavyweight - Jhonata Diniz vs. Karl Williams
Featherweight - Youssef Zalal vs. Jarno Errens
Women's Strawweight - Stephanie Luciano vs. Talita Alencar
