Due to illness, Marcin Tybura has been
removed from his heavyweight bout with Jairzinho Rozenstruik at
#UFC273.As a result, this bout has been cancelled from the event. pic.twitter.com/kO1pTWaovz
— UFC Europe (@UFCEurope)
April 8, 2022
These days, Ultimate Fighting Championship fights are not
official until the cage door locks behind the competitors. Shortly after the
UFC 273 weigh-ins concluded, the promotion announced
that the heavyweight contest between Marcin
Tybura and Jairzinho
Rozenstruik had been canceled. Tybura suffered an undisclosed
illness, and the promotion
did not state if it was related to COVID-19 like it has for
other recent illness scratches. Tybura (253) and Rozenstruik
(252.5)
both made weight without issue.
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.