UFC Fight Night 86 results: Timothy Johnson holds on to get past newcomer Marcin Tybura

Timothy Johnson

ZAGREB, Croatia – By the third round of his fight with UFC newcomer Marcin Tybura, Timothy Johnson was in bad shape, nursing an injured arm and a bad eye injury.

Luckily for Johnson (10-2 MMA, 2-1 UFC), he’d already picked up the first two rounds, exploiting Tybura’s (13-2 MMA, 0-1 UFC) hesitancy to pick up a unanimous decision.

The heavyweight bout was part of today’s UFC Fight Night 86 main card at Zagreb Arena in Zagreb, Croatia. It aired on FOX Sports 1 following early prelims on UFC Fight Pass.

The final scores were all 29-28 for Johnson, who immediately acknowledged his close call to Tybura after hostilities had ceased. An elbow in the clinch from the newcomer had caused what appeared to be a blowout fracture of his orbital, adding to a forearm injury he reportedly received from blocking a kick.

Tybura’s work in the final frame would have come in handy in the first 10 minutes. The smaller heavyweight seemed like he was conserving his energy or had perhaps let his UFC moment drain his reserves, as he did the minimum to counter the aggressive Johnson.

As the bigger fighter, Johnson used every ounce of his bulk to press Tybura against the cage. And when Tybura tried to evade, he gave chase and landed a pair of hard rights in the second round. Meanwhile, a cut opened from an early punch made its mark on Tybura’s face.

When Tybura’s counterattack finally arrived in the third, Johnson simply stuffed him against the cage and waited it out before a final exchange netted a front kick to his face. But by then, it was too late for Tybura to pick up the come-from-behind win.

Johnson gets in the win column for the second time in the UFC after a los to Jared Rosholt in his previous outing. Tybura drops to 1-2 in his past three outings and sees his debut spoiled.

Up-to-the-minute UFC Fight Night 86 results include:

• Timothy Johnson def. Marcin Tybura via unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 29-28)
• Jan Blachowicz def. Igor Pokrajac via unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 29-28)
• Maryna Moroz def. Cristina Stanciu via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-27)
• Zak Cummings def. Nicolas Dalby via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-27)
• Alejandro Perez def. Ian Entwistle via verbal submission (punches) – Round 1, 4:04
• Mairbek Taisumov def. Damir Hadzovic via TKO (punch) – Round 1, 3:44
• Damian Stasiak def. Filip Pejic via submission (rear-naked choke) – Round 1, 2:16
• Lucas Martins def. Robert Whiteford via split decision (29-28, 28-29, 30-27)
• Jared Cannonier def. Cyril Asker via knockout (punch, elbows) – Round 1, 2:40
• Bojan Velickovic def. Alessio Di Chirico via unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 30-27)

For more on UFC Fight Night 86, check out the UFC Events section of the site.

(MMAjunkie’s John Morgan contributed to this report on site in Zagreb.)