Marco Tulio says he is heading into UFC 328 in a far better place after a grueling stretch of surgeries before his return against Roman Kopylov at the Prudential Center on Saturday night.
Tulio underwent two surgeries to reconstruct his forehead bone following his last UFC fight and also dealt with a complicated hand procedure in his previous camp. Despite the challenges, he is now scheduled to face Kopylov in Newark.
“camp has been smoother than the last one,” Tulio said. “I had a pretty complicated hand surgery in the last camp because of a previous surgery I’d already had, so I was more limited,” he added, explaining that this time, “I trained with the protective headgear until the required recovery period was over. Once the full period was completed and everything was fine, I took the headgear off and moved on.”
Tulio, who was 4-0 in the octagon with three knockout victories before his November 2025 knockout defeat to Christian Leroy Duncan, emphasized his comfort in firefights. “I’m a striker, I’m used to it,” he said. “I’m used to being in wars. Ever since I was 9 years old, getting into street fights, and now fighting the best in the world, that’s never really been a fear for me.”
Preparing for Kopylov’s mix of striking and wrestling — which included five takedowns in a 2024 win over Cesar Almeida — Tulio has been training with jiu-jitsu practitioner Demian Maia. Tulio said, “I already expect him to try for takedowns so I tried to put myself in every possible situation within the adversity of the fight,” while also noting Kopylov “really likes to stand and trade.”
“He’s a very tough opponent, he’s already been tested in his game, but I think I’m bringing weapons that other people didn’t bring against him,” Tulio said. “He’s a very dangerous guy with a very high-level striking game, but so do I. I’m sure this is going to be a fight the fans will enjoy.”
