Is Tai Tuivasa related to fellow UFC heavyweight Justin Tafa?

Tai Tuivasa is not related to Justin Tafa, but the two UFC heavyweights are training partners. Tuivasa and Tafa both trained at the Tiger Muay Thai gym in Thailand and are of Samoan descent.

Tuivasa and Tafa are two of the three Australians to have switched from rugby to mixed martial arts, with the UFC featherweight champion being the third one. Both the heavyweights also consider Mark Hunt as one of their inspirations. 'The Super Samoan' has trained Tai Tuivasa and Justin Tafa, along with Tyson Pedro, who last competed in the UFC in 2018.

Tuivasa has also tried his hands at professional boxing and kickboxing, apart from rugby and MMA. The 31-year-old Australian boasts a 5-2 professional boxing record and a 14-2 kickboxing record. He is 14-7 in MMA, having fought Marcin Tybura on March 16.

Tuivasa joined the UFC in 2017 and currently holds an 8-7 record under the promotion's umbrella. His most successful stretch came from 2019 to 2022 when the 31-year-old defeated the likes of Stefan Struve, Augusto Sakai, and Derrick Lewis, to name a few.

Meanwhile, Tafa has been a part of the UFC roster since October 2019. He entered the UFC as a relatively inexperienced 25-year-old heavyweight with a 3-0 professional MMA record.

He has been one of the most exciting fighters and has earned all four of his UFC victories via first-round knockouts.

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Justin Tafa will return to action on March 23

After his first fight ended in a No Contest due to an accidental eye poke, Justin Tafa defeated Austen Lane via first-round knockout in their UFC 293 rematch. Tafa was set to take on Marcos Rogerio de Lima at UFC 298 in an attempt to improve his standing in the heavyweight division.

However, due to a health issue, he was forced to pull out of the fight a day before the event. In the wild turn of events, his brother Junior Tafa stepped up to replace him on one-day notice.

Having fully recovered, Justin Tafa will return to competition against Karl Williams at this weekend's UFC Vegas 89 event. Williams, a Dana White's Contender Series standout, made his UFC debut with a unanimous decision win over Lukasz Brzeski in March 2023 and defeated Chase Sherman in his last outing.