Fabricio Werdum Wants the Title Back Following Dominant Win Over Marcin Tybura

Fabricio Werdum took another step back towards title contention on Saturday night with a dominant win over Marcin Tybura in the main event from Sydney, Australia.

Werdum had to go all 25-minutes to get the job done, which was an amazing feat considering he accepted the main event fight on short notice after Mark Hunt was deemed medically ineligible to compete on the card.

The lack of time to prepare didn’t seem to bother Werdum one bit as he used a superior striking attack round after round to batter Tybura on the feet.

Werdum was tactical with his combinations as he pressed forward over all five rounds, finding a home for his jab and then doing a lot of damage with his body kicks as well as the Thai clinch where he blasted Tybura with several big knees.

To his credit, Tybura refused to fade away although after the third round he seemed to be running low on reserves, opting for a more defensive strategy of survival rather than putting together any truly significant combinations.

Fabricio Werdum cements his spot atop the heavyweight division with the big win over Marcin Tybura! #UFCSydney https://t.co/hQcQ4amUw2

— FOX Sports: UFC (@UFCONFOX) November 19, 2017

Tybura did manage a slight comeback in the fifth and final round as he landed his best strike of the entire fight with a big head kick that glanced off of Werdum’s head but still didn’t rattle the former heavyweight champion.

Ultimately, Werdum’s output was just too much for Tybura as he ate dozens of strikes from the Brazilian heavyweight, who poured on the punishment but just couldn’t quite do enough to get the finish.

When it was all over, Werdum out landed Tybura 179 to 137 in total strikes en route to a unanimous decision victory.

Afterwards, Werdum wasted no time turning his attention towards the heavyweight title as he hopes to get back into contention following two consecutive wins in a row and three out of his last four since losing the belt to Stipe Miocic last year.

“My big goal is the belt again,” Werdum said following the win. “I win, I want the next step for the belt again.”

In the co-main event, Jessica Rose-Clark got a win in her UFC debut despite taking the fight with Bec Rawlings on very short notice following an injury to Joanne Calderwood.

Jessica Rose-Clark earns the split decision victory over Bec Rawlings at #UFCSydney! https://t.co/ujgFootVHR

— FOX Sports: UFC (@UFCONFOX) November 19, 2017

Belal Muhammad also earned a split decision victory against the always game Tim Means in a welterweight bout on the main card while Jake Matthews earned a win as he returned to 170 pounds for his fight against Bojan Velickovic.

The UFC Fight Night card in Sydney also earned a rather dubious honor as the event was the longest in the history of the promotion with more than three hours spent inside the Octagon between 13 fights.

10 of those fights ended in a decision.

Here are the full results from UFC Fight Night: Werdum vs. Tybura

Fabricio Werdum def. Marcin Tybura by unanimous decision (50-45, 50-45, 49-46)

Jessica Rose-Clark def. Bec Rawlings by split decision (29-28, 28-29, 29-28)

Belal Muhammad def. Tim Means by split decision (29-28, 29-28, 28-29)

Jake Matthews def. Bojan Velickovic by split decision (29-28, 29-28, 28-29)

Elias Theodorou def. Dan Kelly by unanimous decision (30-28, 30-27, 30-26)

Alexander Volkanovski def. Shane Young by unanimous decision (30-27, 30-26, 30-26)

PRELIMINARY CARD

Ryan Benoit def. Ashkan Mokhtarian by knockout (head kick) at 2:38, R3

Nik Lentz def. Will Brooks by submission (guillotine choke) at 2:05, R2

Tai Tuivasa def. Rashad Coulter by knockout (flying knee) at 4:35, R1