In the UFC Vegas 88 main event this coming Saturday, Tai Tuivasa and Marcin Tybura will finally meet inside the Octagon, as the pair of heavyweights were originally scheduled to fight back at UFC 298.
The heavyweight bout was reshuffled and pushed back to this coming weekend, with the UFC not giving a reason for the re-scheduling. Since then, Tai Tuivasa has come out on his YouTube channel, letting his fans know that it was because he tore his meniscus in training.
‘Bam Bam’ admitted that the injury required surgery which went successfully, allowing him to return to training a few weeks later.
The 30-year-old is coming into the main event off the back of three consecutive losses, something he has suffered once before in his professional career back in 2018-2019.
Following that losing skid, Tuivasa went on to win five fights in a row, finishing all of which in the first and second rounds respectively.
His opponent, Tybura, is coming in off a loss to the current interim champion, Tom Aspinall. This will mark the 38-year-old’s third UFC main event, similarly, it’ll be the third time Tuivasa has been scheduled for five rounds.
The fight will be taking place at the controversial UFC Apex, and Tuivasa who is always a fan’s favorite has only fought there once previously. This will be the fourth time that the 38-year-old Pole has fought in the confines of the Apex.
Tai Tuivasa says his knee is ‘feeling good’ ahead of Saturday
In a video on his YouTube, the Western Sydney native revealed that his knee is ‘feeling good’ ahead of his fight with Marcin Tybura, and joked that he is just getting ‘old and fat’. Tuivasa also talked about the preparation and training with Jason Lapin and Tama TeHuna.
“Yeah, it feels good, I’ve got a good team around me and we’ve been doing everything we can to get it (knee) sweet, so I’m confident and confident in my team. The knee’s all good it just is what it is, I’m getting old and fat but get better looking every day.
“Like I said I feel good, I’m confident in my team I’ve got a good team around me, a lot of old school mixed with new school, and just everyone from the area so it’s good to be home training at home around familiar faces and I get to do my daddy duties as well.”
The UFC Vegas 88 main card is as follows:
- Tai Tuivasa (15-6) vs Marcin Tybura (24-8) – Heavyweight
- Bryan Battle (11-2) vs Ange Loosa (10-3) – Welterweight
- Ovince Saint Preux (26-17) vs Kennedy Nzechukwu (12-4) – Light Heavyweight
- Christian Rodriguez (10-1) vs Isaac Dulgarian (6-0) – Featherweight
- Pannie Kianzad (17-7) vs Macy Chiasson (9-3) – Women’s Bantamweight
- Gerald Meerschaert (35-17) vs Bryan Barberena (18-11) – Middleweight