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His walkouts were iconic, his knockouts came fast, and his \u201cshoey\u201d beer-skolling celebrations were as recognisable as anything in the sport.<\/p>\n
That run hit its high point in 2022, when Tuivasa climbed to No. 3 in the rankings and earnt a crack at French title challenger Ciryl Gane. <\/p>\n
Alas, while awarded Fight Of The Night, their stoush in Paris didn\u2019t go his way, and \u201cBam Bam\u201d hasn\u2019t had his hand raised since.<\/p>\n
Now, after more than a year away from MMA to clear his head and reset, Tuivasa is back on the tools \u2013 and planning another run at the heavyweight division.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s been a while,\u201d he told Fox Sports Australia. <\/p>\n
\u201cThe break was good. I put my feet up, put the weight on and thought about a lot of stuff.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut now I\u2019m ready to get back to work.\u201d<\/p>\n
Tai Tuivasa punches Ciryl Gane in their 2022 fight.Source: Getty Images<\/p>\n
Tuivasa returns to action in just under two weeks at UFC 325 in Sydney, where he\u2019ll square off with Brazilian wrecking ball Tallison Teixeira. <\/p>\n
And with the UFC\u2019s top weight class in need of both spark and direction after last year\u2019s championship bout between No. 1 ranked Gane and belt-holder Tom Aspinall ended in an unfortunate no contest, now seems the perfect time for a revitalised Tuivasa to return.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe losses take a toll,\u201d admits the Sydneysider, \u201cbut now that I\u2019ve had the break\u2026they\u2019re just little lessons. I think I\u2019ve had enough time to think about what I\u2019m gonna do next \u2013 and how I\u2019m gonna be next.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m going to get this win out of the way. Then the heavyweight division is wide open.\u201d<\/p>\n
During his hiatus, Tuivasa joined forces with brother Logan to win reality TV show The Amazing Race Australia: Celebrity Edition, winning more fans and donating their $100,000 first prize to the charity Sydney Region Aboriginal Corporation.<\/p>\n
The former Sydney Roosters rugby-league junior also dusted off his footy boots during the break and played in a local match. At the time, the social-media brigade noticed the extra kilos he was sporting, but those are long gone as UFC 325 approaches.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m off the piss now,\u201d jokes Tuivasa, adding, \u201cI\u2019m training at a gym called TRIPL3 MMA over here in Dubai. <\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve been living here for a while now; I think I do my best work here. I\u2019m kind of more dialled in and more focused on the job.<\/p>\n
\u201cI owe this year to myself, so I\u2019m gonna go hard.\u201d<\/p>\n
Tuivasa\u2019s next opponent, Teixiera, is the tallest fighter on the UFC roster at 6\u20197\u201d (or 6\u20198\u201d, depending on who you ask).<\/p>\n
The Brazilian also boasts a monster 83\u201d reach. Is the Aussie slugger concerned about this? <\/p>\n
\u201cNo, I fought Stefan Struve and he was 7\u2019 tall,\u201d he says. <\/p>\n
\u201cSmall, tall – they all go down the same. That\u2019s going to be the plan for [Teixeira], too.<\/p>\n
\u201cPlus, I\u2019ve been training with a bunch of taller boys over here, so I\u2019ll be ready.\u201d<\/p>\n
Tai Tuivasa celebrates with a shoey after winning against Derrick Lewis in 2022.Source: Getty Images<\/p>\n
One of the big names Tuivasa has been sparring rounds with is a familiar one \u2013 former rival Gane.<\/p>\n
\u201cBam Bam\u201d says he wasn\u2019t surprised the Frenchman looked sharp against champ Aspinall for as long as their fight lasted.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m not surprised at all – Cyril\u2019s a great fighter. I do think I belong up there as well. I\u2019m probably a bit different to those fellas, but I definitely belong in this cage.\u201d<\/p>\n
‘It’s different’ – Lopes on Volk rematch | 05:22<\/p>\n
When asked for a final word on how his return bout in Sydney next month will play out, Tai\u2019s soft-spoken answer is hugely ominous.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m not going out there for three rounds \u2013 I\u2019m going for heads.\u201d<\/p>\n
The heavyweight division just got a lot more interesting.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Tai Tuivasa speaks softly, which is ironic, because few heavyweights made a bigger noise in the Octagon, or…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":422853,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[570],"tags":[64,63,786,785,85],"class_list":{"0":"post-422852","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-mma","8":"tag-au","9":"tag-australia","10":"tag-fighting","11":"tag-mma","12":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/422852","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=422852"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/422852\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/422853"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=422852"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=422852"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=422852"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}