Tai Tuivasa had a lot of questions to answer in front of his home-country crowd at UFC Adelaide.
The 25-year old, undefeated and quickly rising heavyweight was given a huge step up in competition against a former UFC Champion in Junior dos Santos, and a main event slot to boot.
This is amazing. #UFCAdelaide @BamBamTuivasa pic.twitter.com/0Nhel7mwF8
— UFC (@ufc) December 2, 2018
Tuivasa looked out of his depth early, as a couple of dos Santos slips sent Tuivasa tumbling. However, the power and pressure of Tuivasa got him back into the fight and earned him the first round. That pressure would be his undoing in the second, as he got sloppy and was clipped with a big right hand from JDS that dropped him.
Mid-exchange JDS drops Tuivasa!! #UFCAdelaide pic.twitter.com/lKJmv8eoiA
— UFC (@ufc) December 2, 2018
In a peculiar scene, Tuivasa actually tried to throw strikes while dos Santos had mounted him, which isn't the norm. Shortly after, the fight was stopped, and dos Santos was given the TKO win.
Junior dos Santos gains his first back-to-back wins since 2011-12, and the first time he's won two fights in a year since 2011.
IT'S OVER! JDS gets it done! #UFCAdelaide pic.twitter.com/fqyvGip4Yj
— UFC (@ufc) December 2, 2018
After the fight, Junior dos Santos said that he wanted a rematch with Alistair Overeem. Tai Tuivasa called out Justin Willis, who had called him out earlier that night.
You can see our UFC Adelaide full coverage at this link, and our post-show weekend wrap up at this link.
