{"id":452315,"date":"2026-02-01T21:06:07","date_gmt":"2026-02-01T21:06:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/452315\/"},"modified":"2026-02-01T21:06:07","modified_gmt":"2026-02-01T21:06:07","slug":"can-tuivasa-continue-fans-call-for-retirement-after-heartbreaking-ufc-325-loss","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/452315\/","title":{"rendered":"Can Tuivasa Continue? Fans Call for Retirement After Heartbreaking UFC 325 Loss"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>\t\tTLDR<\/p>\n<p>Tallison Teixeira defeated Tai Tuivasa by unanimous decision (29-28 on all scorecards) at UFC 325 in Sydney<br \/>\nTeixeira dominated rounds one and two with takedowns and ground control before nearly being finished in round three<br \/>\nThe loss was Tuivasa\u2019s sixth consecutive defeat, extending his skid since February 2022<br \/>\nFans have called for Tuivasa to consider retirement following the emotional loss in his home country<br \/>\nTeixeira bounced back from his first career loss to Derrick Lewis and proved he could win a decision<\/p>\n<p>Sources: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.mmafighting.com\/ufc\/469266\/ufc-325-results-tallison-teixeira-survives-late-comeback-attempt-from-tai-tuivasa-to-win-decision\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer nofollow\">MMA Fighting<\/a> | <a href=\"https:\/\/bloodyelbow.com\/2026\/02\/01\/its-just-sad-fans-beg-tai-tuivasa-to-retire-after-pathetic-performance-at-ufc-325\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer nofollow\">Bloody Elbow<\/a> | <a href=\"https:\/\/www.bjpenn.com\/mma-news\/tai-tuivasa\/ufc-325-results-tallison-teixeira-defeats-tai-tuivasa-highlights\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer nofollow\">BJ Penn<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Tallison Teixeira earned a unanimous decision victory over Tai Tuivasa at UFC 325 in Sydney, Australia on Saturday night, surviving a dangerous third-round rally to win 29-28 on all three judges\u2019 scorecards. The loss extended Tuivasa\u2019s skid to six consecutive defeats, prompting emotional reactions from fans calling for the popular heavyweight to consider retirement.<\/p>\n<p>Teixeira, fighting in Tuivasa\u2019s home country, dominated the opening two rounds with a grappling-heavy approach before nearly losing everything in a dramatic final frame.<\/p>\n<p>Early Dominance Through Grappling Control<\/p>\n<p>The Brazilian wasted no time implementing his game plan in the first round. After Tuivasa came out throwing heavy punches, Teixeira quickly secured a takedown and brought the fight to the mat.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n<p>Teixeira trapped Tuivasa against the cage and unleashed punches and elbows while the Australian struggled to return to his feet. After briefly standing, Tuivasa was tripped back to the canvas where Teixeira moved into full mount and continued his methodical attack.<\/p>\n<p>The second round followed a similar pattern. Tuivasa started aggressively and landed a stiff right hand that seemed to hurt Teixeira, but the Brazilian stayed composed and fired back with his own combination before securing another takedown.<\/p>\n<p>Once on the ground, Teixeira moved to a superior position and rained down punches on Tuivasa, who remained stuck underneath. Despite the suffocating pressure, Teixeira couldn\u2019t secure a finish before the round ended.<\/p>\n<p>Desperate Third Round Nearly Changes Everything<\/p>\n<p>With Teixeira clearly exhausted entering the final round, Tuivasa knew he needed a finish to win. In a puzzling decision, Tuivasa grabbed the clinch instead of staying at striking range where he could land the knockout blow he desperately needed.<\/p>\n<p>When Tuivasa finally broke free, he unloaded brutal combinations that badly rattled Teixeira and left him nearly unconscious on his feet. Somehow Teixeira survived, though Tuivasa appeared equally exhausted as the clock continued ticking.<\/p>\n<p>Tuivasa launched another barrage of punches that put Teixeira in survival mode. A big elbow sent Teixeira to the canvas with Tuivasa landing on top of him, but the Australian couldn\u2019t find the finish before the horn sounded.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHe\u2019s a tough guy,\u201d Teixeira said after the fight. \u201cI gave my best. I\u2019m exhausted. He\u2019s a tough guy. He\u2019s a knockout artist. My plan is to get him down and go to work.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The victory marked Teixeira\u2019s return to the win column after suffering the first loss of his career to Derrick Lewis by TKO in July 2025. Prior to that setback, Teixeira\u2019s record featured nothing but first-round finishes, making this three-round decision a test of his ability to go the distance.<\/p>\n<p>For Tuivasa, the loss was his sixth in a row since knocking out Derrick Lewis at UFC 271 in February 2022. The emotional toll of the losing streak has led many fans to describe his performance as heartbreaking and urge the fighter to consider his future in the sport.<\/p>\n<p>Teixeira improved his record to 9-1, while Tuivasa fell to 14-9 in his MMA career. The fight took place on the main card of UFC 325, which was headlined by Alexander Volkanovski defending his title against Diego Lopes.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"TLDR Tallison Teixeira defeated Tai Tuivasa by unanimous decision (29-28 on all scorecards) at UFC 325 in Sydney&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":452316,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[570],"tags":[64,63,786,785,85],"class_list":{"0":"post-452315","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\/452315","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=452315"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/452315\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/452316"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=452315"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=452315"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=452315"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}