UFC London: Tom Aspinall vs. Marcin Tybura Preview, Odds, Predictions

Tom Aspinall and Marcin Tybura are the focus of the upcoming UFC London set for Saturday, July 22. The two heavyweights clash in a battle that could have solid implications for future division rankings. Aspinall was considered to be a title challenger at some point, and his clash against Curtis Blaydes was supposed to confirm such a situation. On the other side, the Polish veteran is on his last push for a big fight, as he already has 37 years and isn’t at the peak.

Preview

Tom Aspinall (12-3, 9 KO, -450) had eight wins in a row before his unfortunate defeat against Curtis Blaydes. The English fella was ruthless in all of his victories, with the majority ending already in the first round. 

Aspinall defeated guys like Alan Baudot, the former UFC heavyweight champ Andrei Arlovski, Sergey Spivak and Alexander Volkov. Against Blaydes, we saw him injuring his knee in only 15 seconds of the bout, which was a huge blow for the entire O2 Arena in London, but primarily for Aspinall himself.

At 30 years of age, the Manchester-born is one of the more skilled and well-rounded UFC heavyweights. Aspinall’s technique is impressive, and we must add that his KO power is better in the division. He has 12 victories, and nine of them were via KO. Aspinall often combines punches and takedowns, because he knows his way around both in stand-up and on the mat.

Marcin Tybura (24-7, +350) is 7-1 in the past eight battles, making a strong case for himself after years of being mediocre. Tybura is one of those fighters who have been around for a long time and have fantastic experience. Some would say that he presents the borderline between those who are able to do big things in the UFC and those who are average. 

His only defeat in recent times was against Alexander Volkov, while on the other side, the Pole defeated Ben Rothwell, Greg Hardy, Walt Harris, and most recently, Alexander Romanov and Blagoy Ivanov. Tybura had plenty of big fights, meeting Andrei Arlovski, Stefan Struve, Derrick Lewis, Fabricio Werdum, Augusto Sakai, etc. 

He is more versatile when talking about the method of victories, having nine KO wins and the same number of decision triumphs while also adding six decision victories. Tybura doesn’t have some amazing physical attributes, but he knows a little bit of everything and, on top of that, has vast experience. All of his disadvantages he tries to compensate with tactical aproach. 

Predictions

Aspinall’s explosiveness and movement are two reasons we gave him the advantage over Tybura. The Englishman is more flexible and fluid than Tybura, who, even though he has more extensive experience and may be stronger than his rival, can’t respond well to all the attacks from the other side. We also have one more factor on Aspinall’s side: the crowd at the O2 Arena. That’s going to be a great boost for the host, who should finish the bout before the decisions. To summarize here, our choice is Aspinall via decision. 

Pick: Aspinall via stoppage