Tai Tuivasa

Overview

Seven of Tai Tuivasa's eight UFC wins ended by knockout, and he has lost eight straight since the last of them. Both halves of that sentence are the story.

"Bam Bam" is a southpaw heavyweight from Kingswood, NSW, who trains at American Top Team. His UFC record is 8-11 (his 15-11 professional record includes fights outside the UFC). Five of the knockout wins came in the first round, and the other two ended in round two.

Right now the knockouts are history and the losses are the present.

UFC Career

Tuivasa debuted in November 2017 with a first-round knockout of Rashad Coulter at 4:35. A stoppage of Cyril Asker followed in 2:18 of round one, then a unanimous decision over Andrei Arlovski. That decision is his only win that went the distance.

The first setback was a main event: Junior Dos Santos knocked him out in round two in November 2018. Decision and submission losses to Blagoy Ivanov and Serghei Spivac followed, and he was 3-3 in the UFC.

Then came the best run of his career, five straight knockouts. Stefan Struve fell at 4:59 of round one, Harry Hunsucker in 49 seconds, Greg Hardy in 1:07, and Augusto Sakai in 26 seconds of round two. The fifth was Derrick Lewis in round two, a win over an opponent our model rates as elite.

Ciryl Gane, another elite opponent, ended that run in the third round of a main event. It has not been the same since. Sergei Pavlovich knocked him out in 54 seconds, and Alexander Volkov and Marcin Tybura submitted him. He then dropped decisions to Jairzinho Rozenstruik, Tallison Teixeira, Louie Sutherland and Robelis Despaigne. Two of those were split decisions.

Eight straight losses, three by knockout, three by submission, five by decision.

Fighting Style

Tuivasa is a striker whose output and accuracy land around the UFC average. His weak spot is defense, because he gets hit more than most fighters in the division.

He almost never looks for takedowns and rarely hunts submissions. His takedown defense is solid, though, and he stays on his feet more often than not.

His finishing pattern is clear. All seven of his stoppage wins came by knockout or TKO, and five of them ended in round one. The other two came in round two. He has only one decision win in the UFC, so he tends to end fights early or not at all.

Notable Wins

• Derrick Lewis — KO/TKO, round 2 (1:40), UFC 271 (2022)
• Greg Hardy — KO/TKO, round 1 (1:07), UFC 264 (2021)
• Augusto Sakai — KO/TKO, round 2 (0:26), UFC 269 (2021)
• Stefan Struve — KO/TKO, round 1 (4:59), UFC 254 (2020)

Quick Facts

• Division: Heavyweight
• UFC record: 8-11
• Professional record (all promotions): 15-11-0
• UFC debut: 2017
• Stance: Southpaw
• Height / reach: 6'2" / 75"
• Team: American Top Team
• Born: Kingswood, NSW, Australia