Tai Tuivasa jokes it was hard preparing for UFC 325 comeback because he was ‘fat as f*ck’

It’s been over a year since Tai Tuivasa last set foot in the octagon and he had to do some serious soul searching before booking his next fight at UFC 325.

The beloved heavyweight slugger was once a top 10 ranked fighter, but he’s currently riding a five-fight losing skid dating back to 2022 that could have potentially led to his release from the UFC. Instead, Tuivasa decided to take an extended break from the sport to decide if he could find his love for fighting again.

Now he’s back with a fight against Tallison Teixeira on Saturday’s card in Australia. Tuivasa admits he had to exorcise some real physical and mental demons before making his return.

“It was hard at the start because I was fat as f*ck but I’m all good now,” Tuivasa said with a laugh during the UFC 325 pre-fight press conference. “I had to miss it. Getting your head punched in and then losing and losing and trying to come back, it’s pretty hard.

“But I’m ready to get back on a winning streak now. I’m ready to go hard, give it all.”

Despite his recent losing streak, Tuivasa has long been one of the more popular heavyweights on the roster, especially when he’s competing close to home in Australia.

Prior to the five-fight losing streak that led to his hiatus from the sport, Tuivasa had racked up five wins in a row including a devastating knockout over Derrick Lewis back in 2022 that earned him a Performance of the Night bonus.

He scored a Fight of the Night award for his next appearance, but Tuivasa lost by knockout to Ciryl Gane in a barnburner in France. That started the downward spiral for Tuivasa as he suffered another knockout loss to Sergei Pavlovich before back-to-back submission defeats to Alexander Volkov and Marcin Tybura.

Tuivasa then dropped a split decision to Jairzinho Rozenstruik and subsequently decided he needed to take some time off to decide if he wanted to continue fighting or not.

Obviously, Tuivasa opted to continue his career and he’s anxious to put the past behind him and move forward into the future with hopes he’ll begin a new win streak starting with Teixeira.

“It’s been a while,” Tuivasa said. “I f*cking miss this shit.”