Tag: tai tuivasa

After earning a victory on fight island Australian UFC heavyweight Tai Tuivasa plans to return to the American Kickboxing Academy where he had been training before the COVID pandemic forced him to return home.

Speaking the ESPN’s Jimmy Smith Tuivasa shared the benefits he had found from training at such a prestigious gym.

“I knew I needed to do that to get to the next level and yeah, since going there I’ve kind of really just seen where I need to be at and where I need to go and I’ll be heading back there soon,” Tuivasa said.

Tuivasa shared that while training at AKA he has been able to focus on practicing in the areas on his MMA skillset that can use work.

“I kind of know what I’m good at and I think the world kind of figured out what I’m kinda good at so I need to just get better at other things that they’re good at I reckon. Once I get good at that I think I’m going to be a big trouble for the division,” Tuivasa said.

“Just being with those guys and seeing what level they’re at and how they push and they’re older guys you know, it makes you realize where you’ve got to be and where I’ve got to go.”

The American Kickboxing Academy is home to former heavyweight champions such as Daniel Cormier and Cain Velasquez, as well as a plethora of high-level fighters from different divisions and organizations.

Back in October at UFC 254, Tuivasa was able to secure a knockout victory over Stefan Struve in the first round of the cards featured prelim. This victory saw the fighter end his three-fight losing streak that had been the only three losses of his career. Currently, Tuivasa’s record stands at 10-3 with 4-3 coming in the UFC.

There will be no more shoeys in the UFC with Tai Tuivasa.

The Aussie heavyweight recently revealed on social media that he had been cut from the UFC.

Tuivasa joined the UFC as an exciting undefeated prospect and got off to an electric start with two knockouts in his first two fights. He also earned the biggest win of his career when he outpointed former heavyweight champion Andrei Arlovski at UFC 225 in June 2018.

However, “Bam Bam” would go on to suffer his first professional defeat against Junior dos Santos via TKO in December 2018. That was followed by a unanimous decision defeat to Blagoy Ivanov and most recently, a submission loss to Sergey Spivak at UFC 243 last October.

That three-fight losing streak was seemingly enough for the UFC to cut the 27-year-old. Tuivasa leaves the UFC with a 3-3 record and now has a 9-3 overall professional record.

However, time is on his side and a few wins elsewhere could certainly see him return to the Las Vegas-based promotion.

Are you surprised that Tuivasa was cut?