UFC Fight Night 121 Preview
What would a UFC card be without some kind of controversy surrounding it in this new age where the sport has more eyes on it than ever before?
It seems like every card has some type of controversy surrounding it lately and UFC Fight Night 121 is no exception.
The controversy came about a month ago when the UFC announced that Mark Hunt would be taken off of the card for UFC Fight Night 121.
He was going to be the main draw near his home of New Zealand as the UFC was headed back to Sydney, Australia.
It made sense that one of the biggest names in the heavyweight division was going to headline a card close to home.
He would take on an up and coming fighter in Marcin Tybura who was looking to add another legend to his win column.
Then the UFC took Hunt off of the card without a lot of explanation and Hunt was not happy.
The fighter that was currently in the middle of a lawsuit against the UFC went on a tirade through social media against the promotion.
He made it seem like the lawsuit was the entire reason why he was removed from the fight and that they were just punishing him for going against them.
The reality was slightly different though as the UFC released their own statement pointing out that he had already fought while the lawsuit was going on.
He had really been pulled from the fight thanks to an interview he had done where he claimed to not remember things after taking damage in the octagon.
The UFC saw the interview and pulled him from the card over concerns about his health, specifically as it relates to brain damage.
Whether they were extremely concerned or not the fact is that Hunt went public with brain damage issues and the UFC didn’t want to take the risk of putting someone in the octagon that was still suffering from issues relating to concussions.
So Hunt was pulled from the card and another fighter would take his place even if Hunt wasn’t too thrilled about it.
Hunt was taken off likely for the damage he had taken over his career and the issues related to that but the replacement would make him even more upset.
The UFC called on Fabricio Werdum to fill the spot after fighting just over a month ago at UFC 216.
The difference though is that Werdum had a less than amazing fight on his hands after Derrick Lewis was forced to drop out.
That left Walt Harris to fight Werdum and the fight ended the way most people expected it to end, with Werdum on the winning side.
It took almost no time for Werdum to lock in a submission and the fight was over with neither fighter taking all that much damage.
So Werdum is back in another fight, this time leading the way as the main event in Sydney against Tybura.
Werdum hopes to fit in one more win in before the year ends and he will look to do it the way that he ends most fights, using his superior ground game.
His opponent will look to keep things standing though as Tybura is more of a stand-up specialist and will look to try to land some big shots on the veteran.
After taking out Andrei Arlovski in his last fight, Tybura is looking to make progress towards the heavyweight title.
He is now in the middle of the heavyweight division and will need to continue to fight these veteran heavyweight legends if he wants a title.
The entire division is full of veteran talent and there is no path to Stipe Miocic that doesn’t go through someone with a massive name.
Tybura is trying to get his second win against a legend and if he can beat Werdum he will be directly on his way to the top.
It is going to be a tough task though as he went from a banger in Hunt to one of the best BJJ heavyweights of all time.
It is a big adjustment as going to the ground could put Tybura in a world of hurt making a tough challenge even tougher for the up and coming fighter.
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