Tai Tuivasa admits he was intoxicated when he accepted his fight against Derrick Lewis for UFC 271.
The Lewis fight is one that Tuivasa called for after they both picked up KO wins back in December. However, he wasn’t sure he would get the fight due to “The Black Beast” being ranked well above him.
The UFC ultimately ended up offering Tai the fight, but they did so while Tuivasa was piss drunk. So, he says he accepted the contest without even consulting with his manager or coaches.
“I was on the piss; I was blind [drunk],” Tuivasa revealed to ESPN. “I didn’t notice until the next morning that [UFC matchmaker] Mick Maynard messaged me and I had messaged back. He messaged, ‘Are you awake,’ and I was like, ‘Yeah’; it was like 4:30 in the morning. And then I woke up to 20 missed calls from my manager, from my coach Sully [Shaun Sullivan] and s**t like that, so I was like, ‘Something must have happened.’”
“And then it come up, and why not? Why wouldn’t I?” Tuivasa continued. “It’s a great opportunity. Obviously, he’s No. 2 or No. 3 or whatever he is. He’s a fan-favorite; I’m a fan favorite. I really respect Derrick, what he’s done and the person he is. Why wouldn’t I say yes? I think it’s all win-win, it’s an opportunity for me, so I’m all in. And I think it’s my time, it’s my time to take over and become the new [revered] fighter of my generation, just like he was before me. I think it’s my time to take over.”
Although Tai Tuivasa accepted the fight “on the piss,” it’s a fight he would’ve taken anyway. Should the fan-favorite win, he will be in title contention, but for Tuivasa, he says he’s just looking forward to the matchup and seeing how he fares against Lewis.
“I’m younger, I think I’m faster, I’ve got the aggression, and my style is probably going to be really hard for him,” Tuivasa concluded. “But I’ll worry about me; Derrick’s the same, as he worries about himself and what he’s good at. So that’s what the fight’s going to be. It’s going to be a battle of that — who’s going to land the shot first, and who’s going to execute it the best. And I feel like I’ve got what it takes to put him away.”
Tuivasa is currently ranked 11th at heavyweight and is riding a four-fight winning streak.
What do you make of Tai Tuivasa accepting the Derrick Lewis fight while he was drunk?