Tai Tuivasa is currently one of the best entertainers Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) has to offer.
The Australian slugger is riding high off the biggest wave of momentum in his career with five straight knockouts and a massive main event slot awaiting. Known for his patented shoey celebration, which sees Tuivasa drink beer and spit from a shoe, the 29-year-old recently expressed his interest in professional wrestling’s World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE). Not only as a fan, but as a performer, too.
“F—k yeah,” Tuivasa said on Fine Dining with Fighters when asked if he’d ever go the pro wrestling route. “I’ll be the new Rikishi, I’ll get my ass out. I love Rikishi, man. I grew up watching wrestling hard. My nana was a wrestling [fan], she still does watch. She’s crazy about it. I remember when my uncle told me it was fake, I cried for ages. I used to think they were the hardest c—ts, you know what I mean? I used to watch and just be like, ‘F—k.’ Then when he told me it was fake I started watching it and being like, ‘It’s not fake (crying).’ Then after that, I couldn’t watch it again for a long time because I was heartbroken.”
Tuivasa’s last win was undeniably his largest yet. Squaring off with former two-time title challenger, Derrick Lewis at UFC 271 in Feb. 2022, Tuivasa put away “The Black Beast” via a nasty second-round elbow knockout that earned him a Performance of the Night bonus.
The victory was enough to place “Bam Bam” in the Top 3 of the Heavyweight division’s ranks and line him up for a showdown with recent interim titleholder, Ciryl Gane, in a Sept. 3 headliner in Paris, France.