“I always knew I had the ability,” Tuivasa said. “I’ve always had a lot of self-confidence, not just in fighting, but in anything, really. But I knew it was gonna end as fast as it came up, and if I didn’t want it to end, I had to change something.”
So he did – in his personal life, his professional life, and in his mindset.
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He hasn’t lost since, and after knocking out Stefan Struve, Harry Hunsucker, Greg Hardy, Augusto Sakai and Derrick Lewis in succession, he’s in Paris looking to spoil the night of hometown hero Gane.
“I’m a massive underdog and they’re sending me into the trenches again to fight a hometown boy, and I wouldn’t mind ruining the party,” said Tuivasa, who respects the affable Gane, but doesn’t fear what he brings to the Octagon.
“Gane is explosive and fast, just an all-around great athlete,” he said. “My biggest advantage would be my heart. And if I have to make it dirty, then we’re gonna get dirty.”
Those are the words of Tai Tuivasa, from Kingswood, Western Sydney.
“I’m from Western Sydney,” he said. “We are the underdogs. We’ve always been written off. And one thing I really like to do in life is prove people wrong, so I’m gonna keep doing it.”
