Former UFC interim heavyweight champion Ciryl Gane likes what he sees from Tai Tuivasa following his win over Derrick Lewis at UFC 271. Gane and Tuivasa could be on a collision course sooner rather than later in the UFC heavyweight division. Tuivasa moved up to No. 3 in the latest UFC rankings while Gane remains…
Former UFC interim heavyweight champion Ciryl Gane likes what he sees from Tai Tuivasa following his win over Derrick Lewis at UFC 271.
Gane and Tuivasa could be on a collision course sooner rather than later in the UFC heavyweight division. Tuivasa moved up to No. 3 in the latest UFC rankings while Gane remains at No. 1 despite his UFC 270 loss to Francis Ngannou.
Tuivasa is arguably the hottest heavyweight contender in the division at the moment, having won five straight via knockout. He has also become a UFC fan favorite with his post-fight ‘shoey’ celebrations.
“Congratulations to this guy,” Gane said of Tuivasa. “It was a really interesting fight. Unfortunately, I was sleeping at this moment, like every time. But I saw the fight after and it was a really tough fight. So congratulations to Derrick Lewis also, it was a beautiful fight. And Tuivasa is an amazing fighter. He can do something big in this division. He has something.”
Tuivasa is now a Top-3 UFC heavyweight and will surely get a big name for his next octagon appearance. His win over Lewis put him on the map and demonstrated that he can compete with the best heavyweights in MMA.
How far do you think Tai Tuivasa can go in the UFC’s heavyweight division?
UFC heavyweight contender Tai Tuivasa has sent his support to incarcerated former two-time champion Cain Velasquez. Velasquez, who held the UFC’s heavyweight gold for two stints between 2010-2011 and 2012-2015, was arrested late last month and charged with attempted premeditated murder. In the incident, which took place in San Jose, California, Velasquez is accused of…
In the incident, which took place in San Jose, California, Velasquez is accused of pursuing an individual named Henry Goularte, who’d been released one week prior to the February 28 events after reportedly molesting a relative of Velasquez.
During a recent appearance on The MMA Hour with Ariel Helwani, Tuivasa, who has trained with Velasquez at San Jose’s American Kickboxing Academy, praised the Salinas-born star as a “great guy” who’s always willing to help the up-and-comers in the gym.
“He’s such a great guy. In real life, he’s always in the gym, he’s always helping the younger guys, always helping the amateurs,” said Tuivasa. “I don’t know. Things take over.”
Tuivasa Isn’t The Only MMA Personality To Show Support
With their MMA peer potentially facing 20 years in jail if found guilty, a number of fighters, pundits, and big names in the sport have come out in support of Velasquez, who is widely regarded as one of the most gifted heavyweights in UFC history.
As well as sending personal messages and thoughts on the incident on social media and in interviews, the likes of UFC President Dana White, lightweight legend Khabib Nurmagomedov, welterweight champion Kamaru Usman, and former two-division titleholder Henry Cejudo, along with over 30 others, have penned letters calling for Velasquez’s release.
“My only wish is that he just ran the car off the road, pulled that guy out of the f*cking car, and beat him to death. F*ck you,” he said during an episode of the Joe Rogan Experience.
Including UFC President Dana White and Khabib Nurmagomedov, there were 37 letters written to the judge on behalf of Cain Velasquez to allow him bail. Unfortunately, bail was denied.
Meanwhile, alleged child molester Harry Goulaerte was released with zero dollar bail. pic.twitter.com/4gORWnDIXv
UFC heavyweight contender Tai Tuivasa wants a shot against former UFC champion Stipe Miocic for his next Octagon appearance. Tuivasa is arguably the hottest name in the heavyweight division right now. He’s won five fights in a row, all of which ended in a knockout within the first two rounds. Tuivasa surged into the top…
UFC heavyweight contender Tai Tuivasa wants a shot against former UFC champion Stipe Miocic for his next Octagon appearance.
Tuivasa is arguably the hottest name in the heavyweight division right now. He’s won five fights in a row, all of which ended in a knockout within the first two rounds.
Tuivasa surged into the top 5 of the UFC heavyweight rankings following a violent knockout of Derrick Lewis at UFC 271. After back-and-forth exchanges, he landed a heavy elbow that sent the UFC knockout leader Lewis collapsing to the canvas.
Tuivasa could be potentially one win away from a heavyweight title shot, which was unheard of at this point last year. But he wants bigger challenges to earn a shot at the belt in 2022.
“I just think that that’s the fight,” Tuivasa said. “He’s in front of me. That’s who I’d like to fight just because he’s been around, he’s older and I don’t think he’ll have many more left. I’d like to have a crack at him before he goes. He’s the best heavyweight of all time, so why wouldn’t I want a crack against him? Just like the knockout king [Derrick Lewis].”
Former UFC light heavyweight champion Jon Jones has also alluded to a matchup with Miocic for his heavyweight debut. However, it remains to be seen when Jones will return to the cage in 2022.
UFC President Dana White put Tuivasa into the heavyweight title picture following his latest win over Lewis. He has also earned big knockouts over the likes of Greg Hardy and Augusto Sakai.
Do you want to see Tai Tuivasa vs. Stipe Miocic next?
Boxing and MMA commentator Teddy Atlas has given a detailed breakdown of what led up to Tai Tuivasa’s knockout of Derrick Lewis at UFC 271. Tuivasa has been on a roll in the UFC’s heavyweight division over the past year. He has won five straight overall by knockout and has demonstrated the ability to end…
Boxing and MMA commentator Teddy Atlas has given a detailed breakdown of what led up to Tai Tuivasa’s knockout of Derrick Lewis at UFC 271.
Tuivasa has been on a roll in the UFC’s heavyweight division over the past year. He has won five straight overall by knockout and has demonstrated the ability to end a fight with a single punch. Tuivasa also earned a post-fight performance check for his finish at UFC 271.
The most stunning moment of Tuivasa’s career to this point was his finish of Lewis at UFC 271. After surviving an early barrage from Lewis, “Bam Bam” found his range on the feet and had Lewis up against the cage. He would land a solid lead elbow that slept Lewis directly after impact.
During a recent segment on his The Fight podcast, Atlas explained what led to Tuivasa’s KO of the Year candidate at UFC 271.
“His toughness got him there, no doubt about it, but his intelligence won it for him,” Atlas said of Tuivasa. “Because what did he do? He made an adjustment. A lot of people might not have noticed, (they just) saw two big guys slugging it out. Not quite. Tuivasa started countering in between the big shots of Lewis—in between his reckless aggression. I’ll say it again: his reckless aggression. And he was catching him in between. And that’s how he hurt him. And then, he goes and hits him with an elbow—a clean elbow—that puts the lights out for Lewis.”
Tuivasa is now a Top-3 heavyweight contender in the UFC following his win over Lewis. He could potentially get a No. 1 contender fight next after just recently catapulting into the rankings.
UFC wildman Tai Tuivasa may just have a goal besides beer-swelling and indiscriminate banging after all. Tai Tuivasa isn’t your conventional fighter. In fact, the man just plain isn’t your conventional human being. Indeed, there is only one “Bam Bam,” and he is the embodiment of the phrase, “I’m here for a good time, not…
UFC wildman Tai Tuivasa may just have a goal besides beer-swelling and indiscriminate banging after all.
Tai Tuivasa isn’t your conventional fighter. In fact, the man just plain isn’t your conventional human being.
Tai “Bam Bam” Tuivasa, Ladies & Gentlemen, Image Credit: Chris Unger/Zuffa LLC
Indeed, there is only one “Bam Bam,” and he is the embodiment of the phrase, “I’m here for a good time, not a long time.”
As someone who exudes such a lax outlook on life, he hasn’t been one to care much about things most fighters tend to, such as rankings or titles. Instead, his priorities have been on shoey drinking, walk-out-song mastery, and banging it out with whoever is placed in front of him, damn the results and torpedoes.
After his latest KO, which came at the expense of the KO king Derrick Lewis at UC 271, Tuivasa reinforced his carefree attitude when it comes to the world title picture. Now weeks later, “Bam Bam” seems willing to squeeze in title-chasing to his list of high-level priorities.
Our Andrew Starc posed the question if Tuivasa is a legitimate title contender or the UFC’s joker. Turns out, the answer may very well be both.
“I’ll be walking around with it (the belt) on my waist like a clown. I’ll be that old clown at the pub telling everyone how great he was when I was young. It’s going to happen. It will happen,” Tuivasa told ABC News.
“As long as you have a crack, what’s the worst that can happen? You might lose. That’s it.”
As Tuivasa has always said, he’s willing to “bang on” with anyone, and yes, that includes the man often referred to as the scariest man in UFC history and current heavyweight titleholder, Francis Ngannou.
“That’s why I do this stuff, the challenge. Obviously, I do it to get paid, but I love the challenge, that aspect of fighting,” Tuivasa said. “It’s happened to me, I’ve lost as well, and the person you lose to always has that feather in their hat. It’s something you go after – or I do, anyway.”
Dana White has confirmed that he considers Tai Tuivasa to be in the world title picture. It would be difficult not to when the Aussie now finds himself ranked #3 in the division.
That said, Tuivasa might be one more win away from the banger of his life: a must-see scrap against Francis Ngannou or whoever the champion may be that’s standing in the way between “Bam Bam” and a championship shoey.
Can you imagine Tai Tuivasa becoming YOUR UFC heavyweight champion of the world??
It wasn’t long ago, on the night of 6 October 2019, that Tai Tuivasa looked to be on his way out of the UFC. Stretched out flat on the canvas, with his face bloodied to a pulp and the arm-triangle of Sergey Spivac pressing into his neck, ‘Bam Bam’ was at a low point of…
It wasn’t long ago, on the night of 6 October 2019, that Tai Tuivasa looked to be on his way out of the UFC. Stretched out flat on the canvas, with his face bloodied to a pulp and the arm-triangle of Sergey Spivac pressing into his neck, ‘Bam Bam’ was at a low point of his fledgling MMA career.
Losing consciousness seconds later, it was the third straight loss for the Australian and a glaring example of what happens when a self-styled street brawler like Tuivasa enters the cage with a submission specialist like Spivac. Repeatedly taken down to the canvas with ease, and once there, not knowing what to do, Tai looked gravely out of his depth. Making it all the worse, the drubbing came in front of a home crowd in Melbourne, Australia.
Fast forward to 2022, and Tai Tuivasa is a different, revitalized fighter. At UFC 271 earlier this month, the Australian’s head displayed an otherworldly ability to absorb Derrick Lewis’ best shots, before his elbow sent the American slumping face-first to the canvas. ‘Bam Bam’ is now not only a potential future title contender, but thanks to his larger-than-life personality, fast becoming one of the UFC’s most popular stars.
The night it all went wrong for Tai Tuivasa against Sergey Spivac at UFC 243 in Melbourne, Australia. PHOTO: USA TODAY Sports
“I’m A Banger From Western Sydney”
A Tai Tuivasa fight reliably delivers all those ingredients that make for an entertaining spectacle; a blistering KO, quickly followed by the swilling of beer from shoe and a post-fight interview that evokes plenty of chuckles, typically punctuated by his catch cry of “Eshay” resounding through the arena.
Pig Latin for “sesh,” the phrase is a nod to Australian-lad subculture to which Tuivasa proudly belongs. And that along with his social housing upbringing in the gritty, working-class suburbs of Western Sydney, Australia, are partly what makes ‘Bam Bam’ the uncouth-yet-highly likable personality we see in the UFC.
“I said it before and I say it again, I’m a banger from Western Sydney,” declared Tuivasa after his victory over Lewis. “I’ll bang on with anyone and will bang on till the day I die.”
“I don’t mind being the guy who drinks piss out of shoes and this and that. I suppose everyone focuses on all that, but at the end of the day, I’m knocking the best in the world out.”
Tai Tuivasa dressed in the traditional ‘Eshay’ uniform of Nautica shirt, Nike sneakers, and a fanny pack. PHOTO: Instagram/bambamtuivasa
Evolving His Game in the United States
But behind Tuivasa’s larrikin persona lies a serious athlete who’s been putting in the work to evolve as a mixed martial artist.
Disillusioned with the sport following his loss to Spivac, Tai spent a soul-searching year on the sidelines, during which time he uprooted from Australia and joined the ranks of American Kickboxing Academy (AKA) in San Jose, California. There, under the tutelage of Daniel Cormier and Javier Mendez, Tuivasa says he made significant improvements to his game, particularly with regard to wrestling.
“The wrestling side of things I haven’t stopped working on since I’ve been to America,” Tuivasa told 7News in Australia last year. “I feel I’m getting a lot better at wrestling and I haven’t even got to spend a lot of time in America.”
All that work seemed to have paid off, when in October 2020, Tai returned to the Octagon with a first-round KO of Stefan Struve. That win kicked off what is now a five-fight win-streak—all knockouts—culminating with that of Derrick Lewis earlier this month, which saw Tai’s heavyweight ranking catapult from #11 to #3.
Tuivasa now faces the prospect of fighting the division’s elite. But is he ready for it?
Tai Tuivasa with Daniel Cormier and UFC middleweight Deron Winn at AKA. PHOTO: Instagram/bambamtuivasa
Tai Tuivasa’s Title Prospects
According to Daniel Cormier, who mentored Tuivasa during his stint at AKA, there are plenty of questions to be answered in ‘Bam Bam’s’ next fight.
“So the question now becomes, is Tai Tuivasa ready for the level of competition that he’s going to fight?” said Cormier on ESPN. “Because Sergey Spivac wrestled him to death, but when you get into the top five, getting wrestled to death is not just getting taken down—it’s getting pummelled into the ground by a guy like Curtis Blaydes. It’s him standing in front of a former champion like Stipe Miocic. Now the competition level skyrockets.”
Cormier further points out that, of those five KO’s Tuivasa has amassed in his last five fights, none came against a wrestler.
“One of the things that Tai has had the luck of having over the course of his win-streak is; Stefan Struve’s a striker. Greg Hardy’s a striker. Augusto Sakai is a striker. Derek Lewis is a striker. So he’s had strikers. Ultimately, he’s going to have to prove that he can stand in front of these wrestlers and defend takedowns enough to make them fight his fight. It’s a daunting task for a guy that, when you look back to the Spivac fight, had a massive hole in his game, and no one’s been able to fight him and exploit that to this point. But trust me, the next guy will have that ability,” said Cormier.
So, has Tai sufficiently plastered up the holes in his ground game to take on the likes of Blaydes and Miocic? Given their wrestling nous and that a title fight against Ngannou is unlikely, perhaps the bout that makes the most sense from Tuivasa’s perspective is Ciryl Gane. Not only for the relatively lesser threat he poses on the ground, but for the spectacle it promises: that of a clean-cut, technically sound Frenchman with an Adonis-like physique against a beer-from-shoe-swilling, love-handled Australian brawler.
But for Tuivasa, it doesn’t seem like he even cares who comes next. He just wants to punch on.
“Brah, to be honest I don’t even know whothe fuck’s in the top five,” he toldpress after his victory over Lewis. “I don’t even watch fighting, brah. Like I said, I heard there’s the Stipe’s, the Cyril Gane’s and all of that and everyone up there. But this is my job. I rock up, I prepare with my team, and we fuckin’ punch on.”
How do you thinkTai Tuivasa will fare against the heavyweight elite?
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