Tai Tuivasa interview: Dubai saved me. Now I'm on a roll - and it's my time to take over

Australian heavyweight, who rides a four-fight win streak, faces Derrick Lewis at UFC 271 on Sunday

Tai Tuivasa has just finished another gruelling morning at Champs UAE gym in Al Quoz, where he sweated and sparred and sweated and grappled and sweated some more.

He is not far out from what he concedes constitutes the most important bout of his professional career, when he takes on fellow heavyweight Derrick Lewis in the co-main event at UFC 271 on Sunday morning.

At present, Tuivasa rides a four-fight win streak, thanks to a breakthrough 2021 in which he reeled off three notable victories. Each one came via knockout, each one succeeded by his now-famous “Shoey” celebration — Tuivasa jumps on top of the octagon, has a drink and a shoe thrown to him from the crowd, and combines both before guzzling — each one adding another layer to lore.

All combined, the past year has lifted Tuivasa to among the most popular fighters in the sport.

Yet, as he sits here now, showered and changed but still wiping sweat from his brow, Tuivasa takes note not only of the rise, but the sacrifices made to get to this point.

“A very long way from home,” the Australian says. “It’s very different to home; it's definitely no Western Sydney over here.

“But that’s what I had to do to keep putting food on the table for my son. These are the sacrifices you have to make, especially in this field of work.”

The move to Dubai came about at the beginning of last year. A few months previously, Tuivasa had salvaged his UFC career; beaten in his previous three bouts — the first losses as a pro — and thus threatened with being cut from the world’s lead mixed martial arts promotion, he defeated Stefan Struve at UFC 254 in Abu Dhabi.

“That was my comeback fight, you could say,” Tuivasa says. “Now I’m on a roll.”

That said, any momentum could have quickly been lost. With Covid-19 restrictions in Australia badly affecting his training, Tuivasa looked up the road from his Abu Dhabi rescue act to Dubai.

His coach, Shaun Sullivan, was already based in the emirate, so Tuivasa said goodbye to those closest to him — among them his young son, Carter, and the fighter's 14 siblings — and hit the road. It proved an inspired decision.

Australian fighter Tai Tuivasa who is training in Dubai before his upcoming fight at UFC 267 against Derrick Lewis. All images by Chris Whiteoak / The National

Australian fighter Tai Tuivasa training in Dubai before his upcoming fight at UFC 267 against Derrick Lewis.

Australian fighter Tai Tuivasa training in Dubai before his upcoming fight at UFC 267 against Derrick Lewis.

Tai Tuivasa training in Dubai before his upcoming fight at UFC 267 against Derrick Lewis.

Tai Tuivasa training in Dubai before his upcoming fight at UFC 267 against Derrick Lewis.

Tai Tuivasa training in Dubai before his upcoming fight at UFC 267 against Derrick Lewis.

Tai Tuivasa training in Dubai before his upcoming fight at UFC 267 against Derrick Lewis.

Tai Tuivasa training in Dubai before his upcoming fight at UFC 267 against Derrick Lewis.

Tai Tuivasa training in Dubai before his upcoming fight at UFC 267 against Derrick Lewis.

Tai Tuivasa training in Dubai before his upcoming fight at UFC 267 against Derrick Lewis.

Tai Tuivasa training in Dubai before his upcoming fight at UFC 267 against Derrick Lewis.

Tai Tuivasa training in Dubai before his upcoming fight at UFC 267 against Derrick Lewis.

Tai Tuivasa training in Dubai before his upcoming fight at UFC 267 against Derrick Lewis.

Tai Tuivasa training in Dubai before his upcoming fight at UFC 267 against Derrick Lewis.

Tai Tuivasa training in Dubai before his upcoming fight at UFC 267 against Derrick Lewis.

Tai Tuivasa training in Dubai before his upcoming fight at UFC 267 against Derrick Lewis.

“Dubai pretty much saved me,” he says. “It kept me in my career, kept me in work, kept me being able to train. The restriction rules here are a lot better and [more] lenient than Australia’s been, for sure. It's been awesome.

“I have to fight to keep feeding my family. There was a three-week period there before one of my last fights and I was training in the garage of my house. I just could see what was going to happen, and for me to keep working and keep active, I decided to make the move.”

Patently, the switch has worked in the professional sense. Outside of that, too. But as much as Tuivasa jokes that he has made sure to enjoy his downtime in Dubai, being so far from family and friends, and especially Carter, has been difficult.

“Luckily, I get to go into a cage and express my feelings through a bit of violence,” he says. “And that's what keeps the fire burning in my stomach. It’s been hard, but obviously there's big rewards as well.”

Through 2021, the rewards kept swelling. Tuivasa’s profile has skyrocketed to such an extent that he currently boasts more than half a million followers on Instagram alone. As he said, he is a long way from where he was before UFC 254. Both literally and figuratively. Mentally, as well.

“Losing sucks,” Tuivasa says. “No one likes a loser. You don't want to lose in front of your friends, in front of family. In this sport we fight in front of the world, so losing in front of the world is [expletive]. But losing has changed how I look at things and it’s really restructured how I want to do things — especially in this sport.”

Overcoming the pressure to perform, particularly with everything on the line in Abu Dhabi, must have been as hefty a challenge as the one posed by Struve. Or maybe not.

“I don't really get pressured,” Tuivasa says. “I don't feel much pressure from anything. It was more I had to look at myself, look at what I was doing.

“I think that's how life is. I don’t really care what other people were thinking about me, but it was more I had to look at what I was doing and how I wanted to approach my future.

“And I did. I took a big look in the mirror. And I think I’ve come out the other side.”

The impressive win streak would suggest so. The reputational rise, also. Sunday’s place on the year's second UFC pay-per-view card — it is the penultimate bout between the eagerly awaited rematch between middleweight champion Israel Adesanya and Robert Whittaker — is evidence as to how Tuivasa's star has climbed.

Even if he doesn't necessarily concur.

“I'm a housing commission kid from Western Sydney,” Tuivasa shrugs. “I don’t really change much. To be honest, I'm still the same old Joe Blow. I think that's why people get me. I'm just a normal bloke; I just get to punch people in the head for a living.

“But this is always what I wanted to do. It's always been in me. And I think the best is yet to come.”

No doubt, his sternest test to date comes this weekend. Tuivasa, 28, accepted the bout in the midst of the celebrations — they were apparently lengthy and lively — following his December 11 victory against Augusto Sakai at UFC 269 in Las Vegas.

He said 'yes' without much thought, agreeing to step in at short notice against the man whom one week after UFC 269 defeated Chris Daukaus to break the promotion's all-time record for knockouts, with 13. Lewis, 37, is a two-time title challenger. At present, he is ranked the No 3 contender at heavyweight (Tuivasa is 11).

“Like I said, no fight no money,” Tuivasa says. “I’m a prize fighter. It's a great opportunity. Derrick Lewis is the third best [heavyweight] in the world, and I think can put him away. And what a way to start off 2022.

“Biggest fight of my career career-wise: if I beat him, it's going to put me in a bigger position that I've never been in before. I've signed a new contract: bigger talks, bigger pieces of the pie. That's what I mean by the biggest fight of my career. And if I beat him then suppose I get a bigger holiday.”

Not that Tuivasa takes Lewis lightly.

“Derrick is someone I look up to, as in what he's done, the way he approaches the fight game, his personality,” he says. “We’re kind of the same. In other words, I think it's a passing of the torch — he's coming towards his end … well, he's been in the game a lot longer than me. I think it's my time. I think the timing is right. I think it's my time to take over.”

On Sunday, Lewis competes in Houston in the UFC for the third time. Last time out, at UFC 265 last August and with the interim heavyweight title on the line, he was dominated before being knocked out in the third round by Ciryl Gane. Afterwards, Lewis admitted fighting in front of his home crowd had got to him.

But Tuivasa counters: “I don't look into things too much like that. He can punch me, I can punch him, and that's the way the fight goes. But in all reality, I got nothing to lose — I've been called up on short notice. And like every other fight, I'm going to go in there and just give it a crack and give it everything I got.

“I do this for the fans. I love to entertain, and I think that's what we're going to do. Hopefully we live up to the hype. One of us is going to get knocked out and I don't reckon it's going to be me. I'm out there to take someone's head off.”

Some people go and sit at a computer, I go and stand in front of these monsters and exchange leather. It’s just my job and I love it

For that, Sunday promises plenty. Perhaps surprisingly, Tuivasa doesn’t sound like someone about the step into the lion’s den. When the cage door closes, he says, it’s what he feels he was meant to do.

“Another day in office,” he smiles. “Some people go and sit at a computer, I go and stand in front of these monsters and exchange leather. It’s just my job and I love it.

“I’d pick that over bricklaying or concreting any day. And that's how I look at this: this is my job. I got to go to work like anyone else. And I'm doing all right at it.”

See off Lewis, and Tuivasa will be doing more than all right, even if talk of where a win would carry him is far from his focus. Other than heading home, finally, to Australia, to Carter who starts school, to “my mom's”, to his 14 siblings. Dubai may have been more than good to him, but Tuivasa is “pumped” to get back to his people.

Although, first thing’s first: another dazzling UFC display.

“It’s Bam Bam. I’m Bam Bam. I’m coming out to bam someone,” he concludes. “Knock people out and do Shoeys. That’s what I get paid for.”

Tai Tuivasa enjoys a 'Shoey' after his victory over Augusto Sakai at UFC 269 at T-Mobile Arena in Lasvegas in December, 2021. AFP