Tai Tuivasa releases statement after first-round KO loss to Sergei Pavlovich: ‘I didn’t get to put on a show and a shoey tonight my bad’
Tai Tuivasa has released a statement after his KO loss to Sergei Pavlovich at UFC Orlando.
Tuivasa was returning to the Octagon three months after his KO loss to Ciryl Gane in the main event of UFC Paris in September. Many thought it was a quick turnaround but Tuivasa was confident he would be able to return to the win column against Pavlovich and it would set him up for a big 2023.
Yet, right when the fight started, the two threw down and Pavlovich connected first that dropped Tuivasa. After Pavlovich dropped the Aussie, he kept the pressure and got the first-round KO in less than a minute.
Following the loss, Tuivasa took to Instagram to apologize for his performance but vowed he will be back.
View this post on Instagram
“Fuck. Got done tonight 😔 Big love to my team fankyou for all y’all do ❤️🙏🏽
Congrats to @sergei__pavlovich got me first rocked me hard couldn’t recover. 👏🏽
Time to come home see my family be back in the Area and regather 😌🥰 Last but not least. ORRRLAAAANDOOO Wooow what a crowd y’all really turned up tonight 🙌🏽🙌🏽🙌🏽🙌🏽 I didn’t get to put on a show and a shoey tonight my bad I will be back. 💯🙏🏽🙏🏽 All my fans. Sick cunts love yahs ayyy,” Tuivasa wrote on Instagram.
With the loss, Tai Tuivasa dropped to 14-5 as a pro and is now on a two-fight losing skid. Prior to the back-to-back knockout losses, the fan-favorite was riding a five-fight win streak with wins over Derrick Lewis, Augusto Sakai, Greg Hardy, Harry Hunsucker, and Stefan Struve.
In his UFC career, Tuivasa is 8-5 but remains a top-10 heavyweight and a fan-favorite. Yet, after this loss, it’s uncertain when he will return again as he said before the fight he wanted to take some time off after this one regardless.
