Tai Tuivasa vs. Marcin Tybura: Why was the heavyweight fight at UFC 298 canceled?
UFC Fight Night 239 is set to feature a heavyweight clash between Tai Tuivasa and Marcin Tybura as the main event on March 16 at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas.
The heavyweights were initially set to face off last month, however, Dana White announced the change to the card back in January. While the UFC president didn't give a reason as to why, Tuivasa has since shed some light on the situation.
In a video uploaded to his YouTube channel earlier this month. 'Bam Bam' confirmed he had suffered a torn meniscus during his fight camp. He didn't share the footage of when it happened, but he was filmed talking to his agent about the injury. He said:
"My knee f***ed up today... Not bad, bad. It's a meniscus tear, half of my meniscus is gone from the other surgery... We've had all the tests done now... If I do [need surgery], I want to get it done... I'm ready to fight. Six weeks 'til I can compete! I can compete but I want to be 100%." [ 1:20-2:12]
Catch Tai Tuivasa's comments here (1:20):
The 30-year-old is hoping his newly scheduled bout against Tybura will mark a turn around in his form. After winning five fights in a row between 2020-2022, the Australian has since suffered a three-fight skid, suffering defeats to the likes of Ciryl Gane and Sergei Pavlovich.
For Tybura, the Polish fighter is also hoping to return to winning ways after suffering a first round TKO defeat to Tom Aspinall in July last year.
Tai Tuivasa and Quinton 'Rampage' Jackson have bizzare social media war
Tai Tuvasa and Quinton 'Rampage' Jackson recently found themselves in a spat on social media, after the former light heavyweight champion claimed he could body slam the UFC heavyweight.
'Rampage' made his claim during an Instagram video, which quickly caught the attention of 'Bam Bam'. After initally shrugging off his suggestion with a number of laughing faced emojis, Tuivasa then hit back at Jackson, claiming he sells fake jewelry. He wrote:
"Rampage you old c*nt stop making peoples necks go green selling those fake chains."
His response got a reaction out of Jackson, who opted to take a shot at Tai Tuivasa's weight by stating that he would ban "belly dancers" from the octagon. He said:
"Behave young buck behave, before i tell the UFC to ban belly dancers from fighting then you'll be over here selling chains with me."
Check out their exchange here: