Tia Tuivasa has been brutally honest ahead of his UFC Vegas 88 main event bout against Marcin Tybura on Saturday night, admitting that there’s nothing he can bring the fight that his opponent won’t have already seen.
The pair of Heavyweights are set to top the bill at the UFC Apex, having originally meant to have met last month at UFC 298 but Tuivasa was forced to pulled out of the card due to injury.
Talking to the media, ‘Bam Bam’ addressed the previously unknown injury that led to the contest being rescheduled. He said:
“I tore my meniscus so I had to I had to get surgery and get that taken out and taken care of and just push the fight back. Luckily, the UFC and Marcin himself, you know, he accepted to move the fight back, so I appreciate that. And yeah, now we’re here.”
Both men have been around the sport for over a decade and with this, comes a lot of cage time. The 30-year-old is under no illusion that Tybura knows exactly what he is going to bring to the octagon – but that works both ways.
“Marcin has been around for a long time. I've watched him for many years, very experienced. I'm not going to be able to bring anything that he hasn't seen before. I know his job, his plan is to try and drag me through the rounds and then he'll try and wear me down, I suppose. But this is the heavyweight division, and I'm going to come out and I'm going to come hard and try and get this job done.”
The Australian currently finds himself on a three fight losing skid. He appears to be handling the situation well, stating that the pressure is nothing he has not handled before.
“There is always pressure but this is no pressure I haven't seen before. I've been here before in my life and in fighting, but my preparation has been good, so I'm relying on that.”
Last time out Tuivasa came up short in his co-main event against Alexander Volkov at UFC 293, losing by second round Ezekiel choke. Reflecting on the loss, he admitted that the preparation was miles away from where he would have liked it to be entering the contest. Heading into this weekend’s bout, the number 8 ranked Heavyweight feels a lot more comfortable and is looking forward to getting back in the octagon.
“Since my last fight, I've had to do a lot of things, injury wise. There is no excuse, I don't like to make excuses. If I lose, I lose. But my last fight, my last preparation really wasn't the best due to injuries and stuff like that. But, you know, as fighters, we got to rock up and go to work every day so there's no excuse. But I'm I feel like my body's is much better. I've had to get less things cleaned up and yeah, man, it's been a long camp.
Activity played a pivotal part in ‘Bam Bam’ earning his spot in the rankings as quick as he did, but he only managed to make the walk once in 2023, due to injuries. Not looking past the upcoming bout, Tuivasa is looking to return to competing regularly throughout the year and re-establish himself at the top of the Heavyweight division.
“An active ‘Bam Bam’ is a better ‘Bam Bam’. Like I said, I'm lucky I got these old heads around me. You know, they keep me in line. If I go and do my own thing, I can just venture off, you know? So I just my main job is just keep listening to them and keep doing that. But man, we got this weekend and whatever else after that, if this ends fast, if it doesn't end fast, I'm ready to go. I want to get a few in this year. I want to go to work.”
Watch the full media day interview, below:
