While the UFC heavyweight division is adored for the thunderous knockouts it so often produces, it’s also frequently criticized for its lack of depth. With roughly 40 active fighters—lightweight and welterweight have more than 100 fighters apiece—heavyweight simply resides amongst the most sparsely populated divisions in the UFC.
That said, the UFC is always making an effort to combat this problem by combing the global MMA scene for new heavyweight blood. The latest development in this effort is the organization’s pickup of 30-year-old Polish heavyweight Marcin Tybura. The signing was announced by Tybura’s management team, and confirmed on his official Facebook page, though the details of his contract are not yet known.
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Tybura, who is a former M-1 Challenge heavyweight champion, has long been considered one of the top heavyweights outside the UFC. Now the owner of a strong, 13-1 record, he kick-started his career with a fantastic 12-fight streak, defeating the likes of Damian Grabowski and Denis Smoldarev, and rebounded from his only loss with a first-round thumping of talented Croat Ante Delija. Among his wins are 5 knockouts or TKOs, and 6 submissions—evidence of a well-roundedness that will serve him well in the company of the UFC’s best big men.
Of course, Tybura’s prolonged success amongst destroyers like Fabricio Werdum, Cain Velasquez, Alistair Overeem, and Stipe Miocic is far from a foregone conclusion. He enters the heavyweight division at a time when it is uncharacteristically talent heavy. That said, while we’ve seen other European prospects like Viktor Pesta, Daniel Omielanczuk and Konstantin Erokhin realize tepid success on the sport’s biggest stage, Tybura seems to possess all the tools for a promising UFC career.
For the moment, the details of his UFC debut remain a mystery, though it would not be shocking to see him added to one of the organization’s upcoming European cards—perhaps in Zagreb or Rotterdam. Regardless, the 6’3, 250-pound prospect represents an exciting addition to the UFC heavyweight division, and the latest intriguing talent to emerge from Poland’s thriving MMA scene—the same scene that gave us reigning strawweight champion Joanna Jedrzejczyk.
