Junior Tafa — younger brother of Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) Heavyweight veteran Justin Tafa — smoked another opponent in the first round this weekend (Sat., Nov. 26, 2022). Tafa, who is making waves on the regional scene by finishing everyone, needed only two minutes to melt Nicolas Djurdjevic (4-3) at BRAVE CF 66 in Bali, Indonesia.
Watch the New Zealand-born Australian fighter at work below:
Junior Tafa TKO’s Nicolas Djurdjevi? in the first round to improve to 3-0 in MMA. Tafa is scheduled to face Tsuyoshi Sudario next RIZIN 40 #BraveCF66 pic.twitter.com/RH1JQ8u1pa
— caposa (@Grabaka_Hitman) November 26, 2022
After surviving some early wrestling exchanges, Tafa did what he does best: drop serious bombs. First, he landed an uppercut followed by a right hand that dropped Djurdjevic, and then he pounced on him with relentless ground-and-pound to get the win.
Tafa has gone undefeated (3-0) in 2022 with three knockouts. He made his professional debut in July against Taisei Sekino and only needed a little more than one minute. The 26-year-old battled Kelvin Fitial less than one month later at Hex Fight Series 23, winning with a brutal gut shot.
Oh, and Tafa isn’t done with 2022 yet. The former GLORY kickboxer will make his debut in RIZIN on New Year’s Eve at RIZIN 40 when he fights Tsuyoshi Sudario (6-1). Tafa was supposed to compete on Dana White’s Contender Series in 2021, but visa issues stopped that opportunity in its tracks.
There is no doubt Tafa is one of the hottest free agents on the regional scene right now, and it will be a big deal wherever he lands in his sophomore MMA campaign.