Marco Tulio went under the knife twice after his last UFC fight to reconstruct his forehead bone but says that didn’t worry him during camp for his UFC 328 bout with Roman Kopylov, scheduled for Saturday night in Newark.
In fact, the Chute Boxe middleweight said “camp has been smoother than the last one,” a knockout defeat to Christian Leroy Duncan in November 2025.
“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,” Tulio
told MMA Fighting. “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.”
“Matuto” stayed away from the gym in Sao Paulo for a few weeks after surgery. In the end, he said the idea of getting punched in the head after such medical procedures was no big deal.
“I’m a striker, I’m used to it,” Tulio 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.”
Tulio was 4-0 in the octagon with three knockout victories before that setback, including two appearances on Dana White’s Contender Series, and said he “adapted to adversity” to get back on track this time around. Part of “doing our homework” was training with jiu-jitsu legend Demian Maia.
“Demian needs no introduction,” Tulio said. “His whole history, the greatness he comes from in jiu-jitsu, the way he brought jiu-jitsu to the world and showed an absurd level inside the UFC against the best guys. Every class with him feels like a seminar. Every adjustment he makes suddenly seems simple. When you train with a guy of that caliber you gain a completely different view of the game, and I’m sure it’s adding a lot to my arsenal. I’m sure there’s a chance for some Demian magic to show up.”
Kopylov will walk to the cage at Prudential Center with a 6-5 promotional record and all but one of his wins coming by way of knockout. That said, “Matuto” wouldn’t be surprised if Kopylov opts to follow a different path and work on a takedown-heavy game plan, like when he secured five takedowns to defeat kickboxing veteran Cesar Almeida in 2024.
“I already expect him to try for takedowns so I tried to put myself in every possible situation within the adversity of the fight,” Tulio said. “But he’s also a guy who really likes to stand and trade. He had a pure striking fight against [Gregory Rodrigues] ’Robocop’ and against [Paulo Costa] ‘Borrachinha,’ so I believe he’ll want to test himself again too.
“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. I’m really focused on putting together a very efficient game plan for him. 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.”
