Tai Tuivasa slumped onto his stool at Crypto.com Arena with the kind of silence that says more than any post-fight interview. No collapse, no highlight-reel knockout. Just 15 grinding minutes that ended with a number nobody in his corner wanted to hear: eight straight defeats.
Robelis Despaigne, back in the UFC for a second run, walked away with a split decision win on the UFC 331 prelims in Los Angeles, edging Tuivasa on two of the three cards (29-28, 28-29, 29-28). The result ties Tuivasa with Tony Ferguson for the longest losing streak in UFC history.
It started like it might be over in seconds.
The first meaningful punch Despaigne threw dumped Tuivasa onto the canvas, the Australian crashing down in a heap. He bounced back up instantly, pride and instincts dragging him off the floor, and bit down on the mouthpiece. What followed was a wild, chaotic opening minute: both heavyweights swinging with bad intentions, trading in the pocket as the crowd roared, waiting for one of them to fall.
The storm didn’t last.
Once the adrenaline cooled, Despaigne dragged the fight into a slower, more methodical battle. A clinch against the fence saw Tuivasa reversed and planted on his back. Despaigne climbed to full mount, threatening to turn the early knockdown into a disastrous first round for “Bam Bam.” Tuivasa stayed calm, defended, and eventually scrambled back to his feet, refusing to let the moment spiral.
He answered with his own surge. Tuivasa drove through a takedown, ended the round on top, and went hunting for a head-and-arm choke as the clock ticked down. It wasn’t tight enough to finish, but it was enough to remind everyone that this wasn’t going to be a one-way beating.
Round 2 opened with Tuivasa doing what he does best: walking forward and throwing heavy leather. He tagged Despaigne with a couple of clean shots and forced another clinch, trying to bully the Cuban against the fence. When they broke, Despaigne fired back with a sharp knee that snapped Tuivasa’s head and shifted the momentum again.
The next clinch belonged entirely to Despaigne. He hit a smooth hip toss, landing in control and dragging the pace into his world. Tuivasa worked, tried to move, tried to create scrambles, but the action stalled. The referee eventually stood them up, and the round bled away with neither man landing the kind of moment that would clearly swing the scorecards.
Five minutes left. A career hanging in the balance.
Tuivasa came out for Round 3 with urgency, but not recklessness. He didn’t gamble too much in open space, picking his moment instead. A thudding inside leg kick knocked Despaigne off balance and gave Tuivasa his opening to rush in, lock the clinch, and chase another takedown. He wanted control. He needed it.
Despaigne wouldn’t give it up easily. He created a pocket of space, fired back with sharp counters, and soon blood was streaming from Tuivasa’s nose. Every exchange now carried a cost for the Australian. When they tied up again, Despaigne went back to the well, hitting another clean hip toss and pinning precious seconds to the mat as the clock wound down.
Tuivasa scrambled up in the final 10 seconds, but there was no last swing, no desperate final charge to steal the round. The horn sounded, and the tension shifted from the cage to the scorecards.
Two judges saw Despaigne’s control and clean moments as enough. One sided with Tuivasa’s pressure and offense. The split went to the Cuban, who begins his second UFC stint with a gritty, less spectacular but far more telling victory than his 18-second debut knockout of Josh Parisian earlier in 2024. That first run ended abruptly with flat decision losses to Waldo Cortes-Acosta and Austen Lane; this time, he showed he can dig in and win ugly when needed.
For Tuivasa, the numbers are brutal. Eight straight defeats. No win since that wild second-round finish of Derrick Lewis at UFC 271 in February 2022. A fan favorite now sharing an unwanted place in the record book next to Tony Ferguson.
On a night when others on the UFC 331 card made statements, Tuivasa’s story was about survival, not resurgence.
Earlier in the evening, Ryan Gandra detonated Ozzy Diaz with punches for a first-round knockout at 2:04. Joanderson Brito needed even less time, stopping Giga Chikadze with strikes at 1:57 of Round 1. Casey O’Neill grabbed a much-needed win, snatching an armbar on Eduarda Moura at 3:22 of the opening frame. Edmen Shahbazyan turned in a composed performance, outpointing Brunno Ferreira across three rounds for a unanimous nod (29-28, 29-28, 30-27). Michael Aswell Jr. and JooSang Yoo went the distance in a razor-close contest, Aswell edging it by split decision (29-28, 28-29, 29-28).
But the heaviest weight of the night didn’t come from a knockout or a submission. It came from a number next to Tai Tuivasa’s name, and the uncomfortable question it now asks about what comes next.
