Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) Heavyweight hitters Andrei Arlovski and Marcin Tybura collided yesterday (June 17, 2017) at UFC Fight Night 111 inside Singapore Indoor Arena in Kellang, Singapore.
Heading into last night’s event, many viewed this bout as Arlovski’s last stand. The former Heavyweight champion had lost his previous four bouts and was getting knocked out with uncomfortable frequency, putting a lot of pressure on the Belarusian to return to the win column.
Meanwhile, Tybura is a fairly unique prospect compared to most of his peers. The former M-1 champ came up short in his debut, but he showed a well-rounded game to score a pair of wins in his next two bouts.
Arlovski landed a big spin kick to open the fight, but his next kick attempt ended with him on his back. From within the guard, Tybura applied a lot of hip pressured and dropped small shots, biding his time until he was able to pass the guard into the mount.
From that position, Tybura immediately began to drop hard punches and elbows. Arlovski tried to turn and scramble, but Tybura kept his hips heavy and continued to drop punches all throughout Arlovski’s movements. Arlovski did a decent job of covering up to avoid the biggest shots, but he still ate a number of hard shots in the process.
Arlovski managed to return to his feet with a few seconds remaining and land some big shots. It was still a strong round for the Polish athlete, but both men were exhausted heading to their corners.
“The Pitbull” continued where he left off to start the second, landing some big shots before inexplicably moving into the clinch to wrestle. It ultimately served as something of a rest for both men, as they hung around in the clinch and occasionally looked for takedowns.
The stalling continued until the final minute of the round. Tybura landed a big knee, which motivated Arlovski to run right back into the clinch and hold that position.
It wasn’t exciting, but Arlovski definitely won the round.
Tybura looked to have recovered a bit of gas between rounds — and he took the entire second off — and was able to shoot for a takedown along the fence. Arlovski defended the first couple attempts, but the large Polish athlete eventually finished a big double leg in the center of the Octagon.
Despite the fatigue, Tybura was able to grapple quite well still. He passed the guard reasonably quickly, moving into both the back mount and mount. His ground strikes weren’t quite as devastating this time around, but he nevertheless was able to control the Belarusian knockout artist.
Arlovski tried to roll into top position a number of times, but Tybura was just too big and too smart.
Tybura’s improved kickboxing was talked about quite a bit heading into this bout, but his wrestling was ultimately the deciding factor. His takedown early in the fight allowed him to dominate and do big damage, which gave him a huge advantage for the rest of the bout.
After taking the second round off to catch his breath, Tybura’s chain wrestling won him the third as well. Arlovski has never been an easy man to take down, but Tybura was able to inch his way into good position. Once he finally got on top again, Tybura’s control was excellent, and it earned him the decision win.
Now having won three in a row, Tybura is likely a top 10 fighter. It’s still too early to throw him to the truly elite Heavyweights, but a bout with the winner of Stefan Struve vs. Alexander Volkov would be a very interesting contest.
Arlovski fought like the veteran he is, picking his moments to attack and landing some hard shots. Unfortunately, that early takedown off the kick put him in a very deep hole to dig out of, and it also stole a great deal of his energy in the process.
The only real question regarding Arlovski’s performance is why he chose to wrestle so much. Lazying around in the clinch is one thing, but Arlovski purposefully tried to drop into shots and finish them, which is exhausting.
Arlovski wins fights via knockout people out, and Tybura was primed to eat punches.
On the bright side, Arlovski was able to keep his senses throughout the loss. Retirement is likely still the best option for him, but that moral victory does give Arlovski an argument to ask for another UFC fight.
Yesterday at UFC Fight Night 111, Marcin Tybura’s size and wrestling proved too much for Andrei Arlovski. Is the Polish athlete a dark horse contender at Heavyweight?
For complete UFC Fight Night 111 “Holm vs. Correia” results and play-by-play, click HERE!