Scouting Report: Tai Tuivasa

Tai Tuivasa

Born: March 16, 1993 (Age: 29) in Sydney
Division: Heavyweight
Height: 6’2”
Reach: 75”
Record: 15-3 (8-3 UFC)
Association: Lions High Performance Centre
Stage of Career: Prime or Developmental

Summary: Tremendous striking offense, not only in terms of his hands but possesses perhaps the best leg kicks at heavyweight and brutal short-range elbows. Carries a sturdy chin, too. Unfortunately, he has poor footwork, porous defense and can be taken down and finished, with limited ability off of his back. These weaknesses are enhanced by questionable fight IQ—he has lost bouts he absolutely should have won—and subpar cardio.

STRIKING

• Stance: Orthodox.
• Hand Speed: Average.
• Jab: Mediocre—throws a weak backhanded variant I abhor.
• Cross: Decent. Technical enough and quite powerful, even with middling speed.
• Left Hook: Excellent. Thrown with fight-ending authority, a tight arc and considerable accuracy, and he can also go to the body with it.
• Right Hook: Superb, with properties similar to the left.
• Overhand Right: Above average. A technical, hard punch delivered with a tight arc, but it is often telegraphed, especially since he leads with it.
• Uppercuts: Exceptional, especially from the right side; a brutally powerful, technical and accurate shot he throws in the midst of combinations to great effect.
• Solitary Striker or Volume Puncher: Throws punches in bunches when given an opportunity.
• Favorite Combinations: Loves firing a series of hooks and will often sneak in an elbow or uppercut if he can extend the barrage.
• Leg Kicks: Fantastic and among the best in the division. Powerful, technical and accurate, especially when he steps into them. A weapon he should use even more.
• Body Kicks: Rarely throws them.
• Head kicks: Poor. He pivots too much on the back foot and does not properly step through on the strike.
• Chains Kicks to Punches: Practically never.

Tuivasa’s offensive striking ranks among the best in the heavyweight division, perhaps second only to that of Francis Ngannou. His hooks and uppercuts are particularly deadly. The trouble comes with his weak defense, due to dropping his hands, a tendency to reach, poor footwork and dragging his legs. He also comes forward a lot, and while he does try to retreat and slip punches, he simply misses too many straight shots. He also goes straight back instead of turning the corner and can be timed with an uppercut while moving forward.

CLINCH

• Physical Strength: Above average, as he showed against former champions Andrei Arlovski and Junior dos Santos. He largely held his own against Blagoy Ivanov.
• Technique: Fairly basic but competent enough at the fundamentals.
• Knees: Decent. However, his tendency to push forward and being short for the division reduces his opportunities in that regard.
• Elbows: Dangerous, with a deadly, accurate and technical short-range strike he uses to great effect. Ask Derrick Lewis.
• Defense against Knees and Elbows: Poor. He will often eat them, with little thought to consequences.

Tuivasa has proven to be physically solid in the clinch and wields dangerous striking there, too—a mixture of effective dirty boxing with lethal elbows. However, he does not think much of his own defense in close quarters, so he can be nailed with knees and elbows himself.

GRAPPLING

• Wrestling from a Shot: Not a skill he possesses.
• Wrestling in the Clinch: Serviceable, as shown when he put Arlovski on the ground with a body lock into a trip—not the easiest task.
• Takedown Defense: Average. He was taken down at will by Sergey Spivak, a Moldovan has proven to be an excellent wrestler.
• Ability to Return to Feet: Stellar, both through hip escaping and wall-walking. The trouble arises with his cardio, which is only deep enough to allow him to execute such maneuvers about twice a fight.
• Submissions: Non-existent.
• Defense and Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu from the Bottom: Weak. Did nothing to minimize ground-and-pound from side control against dos Santos or Spivak and failed to stop them progressing to full mount. His submission defense can only be described as substandard. He moved himself further away from the cage during Spivak’s arm-triangle choke when the fence was preventing him from transitioning to the opposite side for a tighter squeeze.
• Top Control: Deficient. He simply allowed Arlovski to tie him up when he had achieved full mount, then failed to stop the Belarusian from reversing position.
• Ground-and-Pound: Surprisingly weak.

Tuivasa has a major weakness with his grappling game. He actually features some effective wrestling in the clinch and can get up well for as long as his cardio permits him to do so. However, his takedown defense is lacking, and once the action hits the ground, he is well below average in every facet, making him an easy target for ground-and-pound or submissions.

INTANGIBLES

• Athleticism and General Physical Strength: Adequate.
• Cardio: Insufficient. He was winded late in the first round against both Ivanov and Spivak. Grappling, in particular, saps his energy quickly.
• Chin: Fairly durable. He absorbed some heavy shots from dos Santos before a flush connection floored him.
• Recuperative Powers: Strong. He has recovered from knockdowns against many heavy-handed fighters.
• Intelligence: Poor. Often bullies his way into a clinch when he is enjoying success at range, even when he has his opponent hurt there. He could benefit greatly from a change to many of his tactics, like using leg kicks more and not always moving forward predictably regardless of opponent.