Tallison TeixeiravsTai Tuivasa

Tai Tuivasa is fighting for his career right now, and everyone knows it. Bam Bam is on a brutal five fight skid, with losses to Rozenstruik, Tybura, Volkov, Pavlovich, and Gane. That Pavlovich knockout in 54 seconds was rough, and getting submitted by Tybura in the first round showed some serious holes. The Aussie crowd in Sydney is gonna be loud, but Tuivasa needs more than home field energy to turn this around. Tallison Teixeira is coming off a nasty knockout loss to Derrick Lewis back in July, getting finished in just 35 seconds.

But before that? He starched Justin Tafa with a brutal elbow in 35 seconds at UFC 312, also in Sydney. So Xicao knows how to get it done in front of Australian fans, which makes this even more interesting. He's got that aggressive Brazilian style, always looking to close distance and land heavy shots. This is a pure striker vs striker battle at heavyweight, which means someone's getting hurt.

Tuivasa's southpaw power is still dangerous as hell when he connects, but his recent losses show he's been getting caught or taken down and finished. Teixeira comes forward hard and isn't afraid to trade, which could either play into Tai's hands or expose him again. Both guys have shown they can crack, but also that they can get cracked. The stakes couldn't be higher for Tuivasa. Another loss might be the end of his UFC run, and you know he's feeling that pressure fighting at home.