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When Tai Tuivasa began the long walk to the Octagon from the dressing room at T-Mobile Arena in December for a bout against Augusto Sakai, the attitude of the crowd notably changed.
When Tuivasa was visible on the video screens inside the arena, the crowd erupted, many of them on their feet. Maybe it was his choice of walk-out music, because he came out to the decidedly unconventional “Barbie Girl” by Aqua.
That was a first in UFC history, but it’s a small part of the reason why MMA crowds everywhere are falling in love with Tuivasa. Who doesn’t love a guy who, after work, chugs a beer or five?
Tuivasa’s habit of chugging a beer out of a shoe after his wins has become his signature. After he finished Sakai, he downed one beer in the cage as the crowd roared, but then finished off several more on the way back to the locker room.
“No driving after that,” Tuivasa said, grinning wryly.
More than anything, though, it’s the pulverizing power and his endless search for the KOs which has endeared him to the fanbase.
On Saturday, he’ll challenge another fan favorite when he meets Derrick Lewis, the UFC’s all-time KO leader, in the co-main event of UFC 271 at the Toyota Center in Houston.
Houston is Lewis’ hometown and so there might be some boos mixed in as Tuivasa walks, but there figures to be plenty of cheers, as well.
“C’mon mate, how can anyone boo me?” he asks.
“The fans are what make doing this fun,” Tuivasa said. “It’s a lot better to have them there going crazy and so that’s why I do what I do, to try to build a fanbase and have fun with them. They make it special and it’s a lot better than going to fight in an empty warehouse.”
There are few fighters now who get the fans more engaged than Tuivasa. The first time he did a “shoey,” he said one of the Nelk Boys threw him the beer and the shoe. But heading to the locker room now, fans are ready and give him their shoe and their beer.
It’s a unique experience that the crowd loves and reminds us why we got attached to sports in the first place as children. Sports are meant to be fun and while Tuivasa is dead serious about winning and moving to the top of the UFC, he also wants to have fun.
And so his fights have become a big party.
But Tuivasa, who is 13-3 with 12 knockouts including 7-3 with six knockouts in the UFC, is not just there to party. He lost three in a row in 2018-19, but has since reeled off four straight wins. He knocked out Stefan Struve, Harry Hunsucker and Greg Hardy in the first round and Sakai in the second on his current streak.
He’s only 28 and is still finding his way in the sport. The kind of dynamite he carries in his fists can take him a long way, but he knows he still needs to master the techniques.
“I’m still learning in this whole MMA thing,” Tuivasa said. “I’m in the UFC and I was just kind of walking up and taking fights and going out and fighting. I’m good at fighting but I wouldn’t say I was the best martial artist.
“Those losses that I got were, as I look on it now, the best thing for me. I was kind of rushing myself and pushing my career. I was listening to too many different people and not really doing what I was meant to do, which is putting the time in the gym and making sacrifices. To be good at anything, you have to have those things. I went back to the drawing board and took a look at myself and what I wanted to do. It wasn’t just about fighting, but with my life and my career and I learned that it’s not if you get knocked down, it’s how you get back up.”
Tuivasa has the toughest test of his career in front of him facing Lewis, who is a -200 favorite at BetMGM.
There will not be many subtleties in this one.
“I’m going to go out there and try to beat the s*** out of him and I think he’s going to do the same to me,” Tuivasa said. “So I hope the people will like that.”
They will. Oh, I’m sure they will.
And, if he comes up with a walkout song that tops “Barbie Girl,” they might even like it better.