No 9 ranked UFC heavyweight Tai Tuivasa looking for title shot with statement Tybura win
No 9 ranked UFC heavyweight Tai Tuivasa looking for title shot with statement Tybura win
Tai Tuivasa (15-6, fighting out of Western Sydney, New South Wales, Australia) is determined for another knockout win to continue his climb in the rankings
No. 9 UFC heavyweight
14 wins by KO
12 first round finishes
Has received four Performance of the Night bonuses
Tai Tuivasa (15-6, fighting out of Western Sydney, New South Wales, Australia) is determined for another knockout win to continue his climb in the rankings
No. 9 UFC heavyweight
14 wins by KO
12 first round finishes
Has received four Performance of the Night bonuses
Category
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SportsTranscript
00:00 I mean, the Shuya King himself.
00:12 So welcome back.
00:13 How are you feeling?
00:14 I feel good.
00:15 Ready.
00:16 I'm going to hurry up and get this fight going.
00:20 So there was a delay a little bit in the fight.
00:21 Can you talk to me a little bit about how that came about?
00:24 I tore my meniscus.
00:26 So I had to get surgery and get that taken out and taken care of and just push the fight
00:33 back.
00:34 Oh, well, luckily for the UFC and Marcin himself, he accepted to move the fight back.
00:40 So I appreciate that.
00:42 And yeah, now we're here.
00:44 Is a month enough?
00:45 I don't know what that recovery is like.
00:46 It seems like a quick turnaround.
00:48 Oh, I could have.
00:50 I was pushing it to make Anaheim, which meaning I could have.
00:54 But in my team, we wanted just to give us the best.
00:58 Obviously, we waited to see if we could get on a show, which we luckily we could.
01:05 So thankful for that.
01:07 Is there any disappointment that you're going to be fighting here without fans when you
01:11 could have?
01:12 But then there's the flip side of now you're the main event.
01:13 So it's kind of a positive and a negative.
01:16 At the end of the day, fight's a fight.
01:19 But I love the crowd.
01:20 Everyone knows I love the crowd.
01:22 But these Apex shows are pretty cool.
01:25 I don't mind them.
01:26 You know, kind of get in and out and then off to in and out.
01:32 What's your in and out order?
01:34 Whatever.
01:35 At the moment, I'll take 10 of whatever.
01:37 We got to wait till after.
01:40 Can you talk to me a little bit about the matchup?
01:42 What are you expecting?
01:43 Marcin's been around for a long time.
01:46 I've watched him for many years.
01:49 Very experienced.
01:50 I'm not going to be able to bring anything that he hasn't seen before.
01:53 But I know his job, his plan is to try and drag me through the rounds.
01:59 And then he'll try and wear me down, I suppose.
02:04 But this is the heavyweight division.
02:08 And I'm going to come out and I'm going to come hard and try and get this job done.
02:12 Do you anticipate it being a quick fight with him?
02:16 Oh, look, in my head, I'd love every fight to be 10 seconds.
02:19 But unfortunately, my coaches don't let me train for that long.
02:23 So I'll put in the work.
02:26 I've had a few injuries along the way.
02:28 I've had a few injuries I've had to clean up.
02:31 But my team around me at the moment, and I've got all the old heads up.
02:35 So they're really giving me some great advice.
02:38 And I feel confident.
02:41 Can you reveal any of that great advice they've given you?
02:44 I just listen.
02:46 If I go and do my own thing, I'll probably end up no good.
02:50 So I just listen to them.
02:51 And whatever they tell me, I'm falling in line.
02:55 You're not going to pull a Dustin Poirier and keep trying to go for that guillotine?
02:59 Did you see the fights?
03:01 No, sorry.
03:02 OK, so you have no idea what I'm talking about.
03:05 But guillotine sounds good.
03:07 Can you talk to me a little bit about potential pressure going into this fight?
03:11 You're coming off some losses.
03:12 Is there some pressure, or does it feel like just any other fight for you?
03:17 There's always pressure.
03:20 But there's no pressure I haven't seen before.
03:26 I've been here before in my life and in fighting.
03:29 But my preparation has been good.
03:33 So I'm relying on that.
03:38 There's also some kind of a hold up in the heavyweight division
03:41 right now with Jon Jones and Stipe and all this Tom Aspinall.
03:46 What would you like to see happening at the top?
03:50 Again, I don't really watch what's going on, unless it kind of involves me.
03:56 I don't really care.
03:57 My main focus right now is marching.
04:02 And I've been losing.
04:05 So my main focus is to win, to give myself every chance to win.
04:10 And I feel like I've done that.
04:13 And I'm sick of training, to be honest.
04:16 Fuck, I just want to punch on.
04:18 And your fellow countryman Tyson Pedro just retired.
04:22 I was wondering if you had any thoughts on that, on his career, him as a fighter.
04:26 That's my allsoul, you know.
04:27 So I'll support him in whatever he does.
04:31 Obviously, his decisions are his decisions.
04:33 And he's made it for what he has to do.
04:38 Like I said a lot today, we're fathers before we are fighters.
04:42 And he's got to feed his family.
04:44 And whatever he has to do to do, I'll support him.
04:48 I spoke to your opponent.
04:49 I asked if he would do a shoeie with you after.
04:52 He said if it's a clean shoe.
04:53 So I wanted to let you know he would consider it.
04:56 But he's very reluctant.
04:57 Well, the UFC shoes, they're new.
05:00 So I'd love to do one, of course.
05:03 I respect all my opponents.
05:05 But once we get in there, we go to war.
05:07 And then after, that's it.
05:10 We can do whatever.
05:11 Thank you.
05:13 Itai, thanks for taking the time.
05:15 Just if you can talk a little bit about just being in Vegas,
05:18 you've got that main event spot, you're on the poster.
05:20 But what kind of tweaks or adjustments did you and the team have to do
05:24 with this fight going from state to state and 15 to 25?
05:30 A lot of this camp has been--
05:34 since my last fight, I've had to do a lot of things injury-wise.
05:38 So there is no excuse.
05:40 I don't like to make excuses.
05:43 If I lose, I lose.
05:44 But my last fight, my last preparation really wasn't the best due to injuries
05:50 and stuff like that.
05:52 But as fighters, we've got to rock up and go to work every day.
05:57 So there's no excuse.
05:59 But I feel like my body is much better.
06:02 I have to get those things cleaned up.
06:04 And yeah, man, it's been a long camp.
06:09 I'm over it.
06:11 Man, that just makes it even more exciting to see you this weekend.
06:14 How has the support been?
06:15 Because lose or win, we know that you give it 100%, put your heart into it.
06:20 And fans love you for that.
06:22 How has the support been from fans, regardless of the outcome,
06:25 that hold you down and like, you know what, it's going to be okay.
06:27 It's going to be good.
06:28 Yeah, my fans, that's why I'm so with them.
06:32 I don't know, you know, they're the people that keep me going.
06:36 As long as I – you know, I come out and win or lose,
06:39 as long as I know that I gave it my all and I go out and have a crack.
06:43 I think that's like you said, that's what my fans love of me.
06:45 As long as I can keep doing that, you know.
06:48 Obviously I don't want to keep losing.
06:50 But as long as I can keep doing that and keep making my fans proud,
06:53 you know, that means everything to me.
06:55 And I don't want to leave the cage.
06:58 I've got to go home to my son.
06:59 I don't want to show him that, you know, you just give it half-assed.
07:04 I want to go in there and give it 100%.
07:06 Awesome man, and great job for setting an example for that young man.
07:10 Last for me, you take all the fights.
07:13 You're going to fight every weekend if you could.
07:15 Another reason why people support you.
07:17 But what does Marcin give you?
07:19 What challenges are you ready to overcome?
07:21 Or what opportunities do you see like, man, this guy's really good at this.
07:23 Let me test my ability.
07:25 He gave me five rounds and my coaches didn't let me down.
07:29 So – and I know Marcin can fight those five rounds and he can fight them hard.
07:35 Which is something we've been preparing for.
07:39 I don't like going to the rounds, but I've never gassed out.
07:42 You know, my fitness is good.
07:46 I feel good.
07:48 But to be honest, I want to get this party started.
07:53 I want to get it over with.
07:54 That's – I'm coming out for head.
07:58 That sounded a bit weird.
08:00 [Laughter]
08:02 Well, we'll end on this question.
08:05 The meniscus, thank you for disclosing that and helped you heal.
08:08 Do you see this – can you flip this around as a positive?
08:11 You know what, man, maybe I need to listen to my body
08:13 and just kind of chill out for a little bit.
08:15 Yeah, look.
08:18 We're human.
08:21 We bleed the same as everyone else, you know.
08:23 I mean, our heads are the same as everyone else.
08:25 It's – everyone gets to see the glitz and the glamour of what we do,
08:29 but this shit's hard, man.
08:32 This sport is hard mentally, physically.
08:35 Hard on your family.
08:36 You know, they've got to cop a lot of the shit and the things.
08:40 But this is what we do.
08:42 We're fighters.
08:43 We rock out and we go to work.
08:46 Well, can't wait to see it.
08:47 And good luck on Saturday, my man.
08:48 Cheers, man.
08:49 I know the injury did keep you out for a little bit.
08:51 You know, in the years '21, '22 you were very, very active.
08:54 Now that we know the injuries and just making sure your body's healthy,
08:57 what's the perfect number of fights for you in a year?
08:59 Is it maybe two fights?
09:00 Or what's the best for you?
09:01 Look, I want – active Bam-Bam is a better Bam-Bam.
09:07 Like I said, I'm lucky I've got these old heads around me.
09:11 You know, they keep me in line.
09:12 If I go and do my own thing, I can just venture off, you know.
09:16 So I just – my main job is just to keep listening to them
09:20 and keep doing that.
09:22 But, man, we got this weekend and whatever else after that.
09:27 If this ends fast, if it doesn't end fast, I'm ready to go.
09:31 I want to get a few in this year.
09:34 I want to go to work.
09:35 And last, man, I know you said you like the APEC shows,
09:37 but you also love the crowd.
09:38 You love the – you know, what they give to you.
09:40 Are you bummed that this fight, since you're so ready now,
09:43 are you bummed that you weren't able to fight at Miami?
09:45 I would have been bummed if I couldn't get a fight.
09:47 You know, like I said, thankful to Marcin.
09:52 I messaged him and I said, you know,
09:53 I appreciate you accepting to move it back, you know.
09:56 I never want to pull out of a fight.
09:58 I'm never going to pull out of a fight.
10:00 I just ask for some extra time.
10:04 But, yeah, we're good.
10:06 We're good to go.
10:07 Best of luck for Saturday.
10:08 Thank you, brother.
10:10 Ty, man, I know that you've been interested in, you know,
10:12 getting into professional wrestling at some point, man.
10:14 And, you know, speaking about the health just now,
10:16 I'm curious, would that be something you'd really want to, like,
10:19 dive into full career-wise or, like, just do a couple matches?
10:22 Like, have you thought about that?
10:24 Oh, look, I've always thought – everyone wants to be a wrestler when they're a kid.
10:27 And I went and watched it not too long ago in Perth.
10:32 And amazing athletes, you know, they're jumping off shit,
10:36 running through stuff.
10:38 It's crazy shit.
10:39 So it's something that I would love to do, of course.
10:42 But right now my main focus is the UFC.
10:47 I've got a few fights with the UFC that have always been good to me.
10:50 And my job is to give them and the fans what they want.
10:55 Is it cool for you to see kind of the combination now with the parent company,
10:58 you know, owning UFC and WWE?
11:00 So there's that connection there, like –
11:02 Hey, I'll go to more if they take me.
11:04 I don't care. I love it.
11:05 It's cool.
11:07 It's like – they're jumping off shit, running through cages.
11:11 Hopefully I don't hurt myself.
11:13 Knowing me, I'd probably break my neck the first jump.
11:17 We don't need that, man.
11:18 I mean, you've always been a very durable guy though.
11:20 I mean, in terms of the chin, holding up, tying,
11:22 you know, getting into the slugfest, man.
11:24 But I got to ask you, like, you fought so many great opponents too.
11:26 Some of the hardest hitters in heavyweight aside from yourself.
11:29 Like, is there a guy you'd say has been the hardest hitter specifically
11:33 out of who you fought?
11:35 Big Russia. Pavlovich.
11:37 He hit hard.
11:39 He hit really hard.
11:40 He hit me first.
11:41 You know, this is – a lot of heavyweights, we know what the goal is.
11:46 We know what people are good at.
11:48 We know what people are bad at.
11:49 But we all know that one punch can end it.
11:53 It's just first in, best dressed.
11:54 That's the rule.
11:56 Yeah, man.
11:57 And obviously, Sergey was in the title scene recently with Tom Aspinall.
12:01 And, you know, things are kind of messy up there.
12:03 I just got to get your thoughts on kind of the top of the division
12:06 and what's playing out, what you think should happen.
12:08 You know, I was watching that and I was thinking, "Fuck, only if I hit him."
12:12 But I didn't.
12:13 That's the sport, you either do or you don't.
12:15 And I didn't.
12:16 He got me first and fuck I felt it.
12:19 I was there just getting – I was just there eating the Russian sandwiches.
12:25 And do you think Aspinall should go ahead and fight Jones next?
12:28 Or are you interested in Jones' TFA?
12:29 You know, it's kind of the worst –
12:30 I think – like I said, I'm not a big watcher,
12:33 but I would like to watch the big things.
12:35 I think that would be a perfect fight.
12:38 I think – no disrespect, but what's his name?
12:42 Finished?
12:43 Stipe?
12:44 Stipe's – I don't know.
12:46 Is he still going?
12:48 He wants to.
12:49 Oh, he wants to fight?
12:52 Oh, let him fight.
12:54 Stipe's the best heavyweight of all time.
12:56 I know, hands down.
12:57 You can never –
12:59 I thought he didn't want to fight.
13:01 I don't know.
13:02 Like I said, I don't watch this shit enough, man.
13:03 He wants the Jones fight.
13:04 That's the one he wants.
13:05 I just like fighting.
13:06 I don't like watching.
13:08 Fair enough, man.
13:09 We like watching you fight, so best of luck Ty.
13:11 Why don't you like watching?
13:12 Is it too – like –
13:14 is it one of those things where like if you're watching it,
13:16 you want to be doing it?
13:17 Yeah.
13:18 But it's – like I'll watch if it's my – if I know them.
13:23 Like if it's my friend I'll watch.
13:25 But other than that, I don't like –
13:28 I've never really been – I don't watch really anything.
13:34 Yeah.
13:34 I don't watch TV at all either.
13:36 No rugby?
13:37 No anything?
13:38 I'll watch the Penta Panthers.
13:39 Like I'll watch something that I have – like I know.
13:43 Other than that, I don't really – it doesn't interest me.
13:47 Like I don't really find watching boys roll around cuddling each other and shit.
13:52 I don't – if I – that's not really – I'm not into that.
13:58 Some people are, but that's just not my thing.
14:03 Thank you.
14:04 [BLANK_AUDIO]