Marcin Tybura Says Derrick Lewis Punches Harder Than Anyone He’s Ever Fought
Marcin Tybura suffered his second straight loss in a row last weekend when he was defeated by Derrick Lewis at UFC Fight Night 126.
The Pole was finished midway through the third round when Lewis landed a devastating flurry of rights with Tybura in close range near the cage. Tybura was understandably devastated by the loss and spoke to Polsat Sports earlier this week about what went wrong.
“I’m disappointed, but what can I say? Overall I’m OK, I can get back to training,” Tybura said. “I hope to fight again soon. About my loss – I made a mistake. I knew where Lewis is the most dangerous, my coaches warned me. Even coach [Mike] Winkeljohn said that if he could knock me out, he won’t do it during his charge. He could do it after breaking the clinch.”
“I knew that after breaking the clinch he goes in with heavy punches. I had to protect myself, and I didn’t do that.”
Tybura went on to say that he felt he was in the ascendency when the fight ended, but that at no point did he ever underestimate Lewis and what he was bringing to he Octagon.
“He didn’t surprise me. He lowered my vigilance,” Tybura said. After his few charges he slowed down, he was breathing heavily when I took him down… but he was probably just resting. He was looking for a moment to break the clinch once again and I made that mistake in the third round. I felt that I was winning and didn’t want to risk fighting in [kickboxing] range, so I initiated the clinch – probably too early.”
“I felt like he knew he was losing. I felt I was winning. I expected him to go out on a limb, so I didn’t want to fight in the range.”
With his second loss now in a row, Tybura will have to go away and think about what is next for him. Lewis on he other hand is now back in the UFC heavyweight title mix and according to Tybura, his rivals better be on he look out for his power.
“He surely punches harder than anyone I ever fought. His punches weigh a lot. Strikes to the head were OK, but that one, which hurt me, was landed clearly on my chin. That’s why I fell.”
