UFC 273 Loses Marcin Tybura-Jairzinho Rozenstruik Matchup Due to Tybura Illness
Due to illness, Marcin Tybura has been removed from his heavyweight bout with Jairzinho Rozenstruik at #UFC273.
— UFC Europe (@UFCEurope) April 8, 2022
As a result, this bout has been cancelled from the event. pic.twitter.com/kO1pTWaovz
These days, Ultimate Fighting Championship fights are not official until the cage door locks behind the competitors.
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This is the second time this matchup has been nixed, with the two first booked against one another for UFC Fight Night 202 in February. For undetermined reasons, the fight was pushed back to the April 9 event. There will be no replacement for Tybura as the weigh-ins have already been completed, and the UFC did not state if the fight will be rebooked at later date or if the two will go their separate ways.
Tybura was aiming to rebound from his first defeat since 2019, as
he fell short to Alexander
Volkov at UFC 267 in October 2021 by decision. That setback
snapped a five-fight win streak over the likes of Sergey
Spivak, Walt Harris
and Ben
Rothwell. Before his victorious stretch that began in 2020, the
Polish fighter actually sustained a UFC record below .500, with
four victories opposite five losses.
Suriname’s Rozenstruik too was looking to bounce back from a loss, with a decision defeat to Curtis Blaydes in September 2021. The former kickboxer has alternated wins and losses in his last six, with all of his triumphs coming by knockout. His three career losses have come against top names in the division, succumbing to a quick knockout from current champion Francis Ngannou first, followed by subsequent decision losses to ex-interim champ Ciryl Gane and top contender Blaydes. Wins over Alistair Overeem, Junior dos Santos and Andrei Arlovski earned him a spot among the top 10 at heavyweight.
Get well soon @MarcinTybura! #UFC273 pic.twitter.com/4L0E2Co8F2
— Jairzinho 'BIGI BOY' Rozenstruik (@JairRozenstruik) April 8, 2022
Rozenstruik wished his former opponent well in a brief statement shortly after the news broke.
"What's up guys, some bad news here," Rozenstruik said with a sigh. "The fight with Marcin Tybura got canceled, Marcin is sick and there's nothing we can do...and just [I] wish him a speedy recovery and hopefully we see him next time around. For now, I talked with the UFC, discussing what the available options are, and you guys will hear soon."
UFC 273 is down to 12 fights at the Vystar Veterans Memorial Arena in Jacksonville, Fla., on April 9. The main event will be a featherweight title clash when Alexander Volkanovski meets Chan Sung Jung, while the co-headliner features a bantamweight championship unification battle and rematch between Aljamain Sterling and Petr Yan. Before those two bouts for belts, Gilbert Burns and Khamzat Chimaev will throw down in a highly anticipated welterweight collision.
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