There have been no free rides for Tai Tuivasa, in more ways than one.
The surging UFC heavyweight is currently in Paris, eager to headline the historic first MMA event to be held in France opposite hometown hero Cyril Gane. One would think, given the magnitude of such an event, that at the very least the feature act would be flown out in comfort; the UFC disagreed and instead wanted to sit the 270-pound fighter in the economy section.
That wasn’t an option for ‘Bam Bam’, who revealed he opted to pay for his own tickets in order to fly first class to events.
“I pay for my own tickets,” Tuivasa told The MMA Hour. “I just get my own flights all the time. Most of my flights, I always pay for my own because I like to fly … I did a lot of time in the back of the plane, now it’s time to sit up in the front. I would agree [that somebody else should be paying for the ticket] but that’s another argument for another time I suppose.”
The AllStar MMA roundup
- UFC Paris: Tai Tuivasa excited to fight Ciryl Gane, doesn’t mind being the underdog “it makes me push harder”
- UFC Paris: ‘King of Germany’ to be crowned when Dustin Stoltzfus takes on Abusupiyan Magomedov at UFC Paris
- UFC Vegas 60: Anthony Hernandez looking forward to “fan-pleaser” fight against Marc-André Barriault
The best of the rest
- Controversy erupts after Leon Edwards gets accused of cheating in UFC win over Kamaru Usman – MMAMania.com
- Cain Velasquez lawyer suggests former UFC champion could take stand in potential trial: ‘He wants the truth to come out’ – MMAFighting.com
- Paulo Costa undergoes surgery on broken hand, delaying timeline for next UFC fight – MMAjunkie.com
- Rampage Jackson expects to fight again, targets boxing bout with former heavyweight champion Shannon Briggs – MMAFighting.com
- Jake Paul rumored to box UFC legend Anderson Silva next – BloodyElbow.com
The soapbox
Dan Hooker with a bit of satire after Adesanya’s recent swathe of hate:
King Casey, a professional fighter with ‘test anxiety’:
His knuckle was a balloon:
Guess the middleweight:
The morning view
Cyril Gane answeres some non-MMA related questions:
Chael figuring out heavyweight:
Relive Robert Whittaker vs Jared Cannonier ahead off the Reaper’s co-main event this weekend:
Done deals
Tuesday
- Jessica Penne to fight Tabatha Ricci at UFC event on October 1st (per Dama De Ferro MMA)
Monday:
- Melsik Baghdasaryan to fight Joanderson Brito at UFC event on October 15th (per Maranhao MMA)
- Maxim Grishin to fight Philipe Lins at UFC event on October 1st (per Raphael Marinho)
- Alexey Oleynik to fight Ilir Latifi at UFC event on October 1st ( per MMA Fight Universe)
- Muslim Salikhov to fight Andre Fialho at UFC event on November 19th (per Full Violence)
- Angela Hill to fight Emily Ducote at UFC event on December 3rd (per Nolan King)
On this day in MMA…
On the 30th of August, 2014, TJ Dillashaw made his first UFC bantamweight title defense against Joe Soto at UFC 177 in Sacramento, California.
The pair headlined the pay-per-view event after Dillashaw’s original opponent, Renan Barão, was forced out of the bout due to complications during his weight cut the day before the fight.
Soto, a former Bellator featherweight champion, who was making his UFC debut on the preliminary card on the same night, stepped in to replace Barão at the eleventh hour.
The debuting challenger was felled in the final round with a perfectly timed head kick by Dillashaw, who followed with a ground and pound to seal the deal.
