Tai Tuivasa has so much more going for him than the “shooey”—a jovial post-fight celebration in which he chugs beer out of a borrowed shoe.
Now firmly entrenched as one of the Top 5 heavyweights on the Ultimate Fighting Championship roster, the affable 29-year-old Australian appears poised to make major waves in the days, months and years ahead. Tuivasa will carry a five-fight winning streak into his UFC Fight Night 214 main event opposite Ciryl Gane on Sept. 3 in Paris. He last appeared in February, when he brought down Derrick Lewis with a vicious elbow strike in the second round of their UFC 271 co-headliner.