LONDON – Marcin Tybura sees Tom Aspinall as the sternest test of his career.
Tybura (24-7 MMA, 11-6 UFC) meets Aspinall (12-3 MMA, 5-1 UFC) in Saturday’s UFC Fight Night 224 headliner at The O2 in London. The event streams on ESPN+.
Tybura has fought the likes of former heavyweight champion Fabricio Werdum, former title challenger Derrick Lewis and former champ Andrei Arlovski, but sees rising contender Aspinall as his biggest threat yet.
“Absolutely, yeah,” Tybura told reporters at Thursday’s UFC Fight Night 224 media day. “No doubt, he’s my toughest opponent in my career.”
Aspinall is heading into his third straight main event, but has never gone past Round 2. Tybura wonders how Aspinall will do in the championship rounds, but isn’t banking on the fight getting there.
“The key is, for sure, to drag him into deep waters,” Tybura said. “I don’t know about going to the further rounds – it’s something unknown for sure, how Tom will look like in the third, fourth or fifth round.
“But I’m not sticking to the plan that he will get tired and I will finish him. I just want to go hard right from the beginning, because if I want to make him tired, I have to get tired, too, and I don’t want to just stay there and wait for him to get tired.”
Tybura sees a win giving him Aspinall’s spot in the UFC’s top-five heavyweight rankings, but knows he’ll likely have to win one more before he gets his first shot at gold.
“I’m hoping it puts me in the top five,” Tybura said. “But probably I will get another fight to get the title fight. I look at it realistically, so I will probably need another fight to get the chance at the belt.”
For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC Fight Night 224.
UFC Fight Night 224’s Marcin Tybura: Tom Aspinall main event my toughest heavyweight test yet