KTAF NEWS

UFC heavyweight Tai Tuivasa was back with his signature post-fight “shoey” celebration after knocking out Augusto Sakai last night.

The Australian fighter has become notorious for the disgusting ritual after every win, where he drinks beer from a fan’s shoe immediately after landing a big knockout.

Tuivasa viciously stopped the No.11-ranked Sakai within 26 seconds of the second round of their fight at the T-Mobile Arena last night, and was immediately thrown a shoe and a beer to celebrate.

They were both provided by social media star Steve ‘Stevewilldoit’ Deleonardis from the prank collective Nelk, who use Tuivasa’s celebration as an advertising opportunity for their ‘Happy Dad’ hard seltzer.

The celebration, which has somehow survived through the restrictions imposed by the coronavirus pandemic, has made Tuivasa a viral star with hundreds of thousands of followers.

And this win over Sakai, his fourth in a row, will almost certainly prove enough to earn him a spot in the heavyweight top 15.

“I just bet $20k on my guy Tai Tuivasa,” Deleonardis told his 3.3million Instagram followers. “You are the man!

“I f***ing love you – Happy Dad shoey.”

Tuivasa’s win over Sakai is arguably the most impressive of his recent run, which has seen Tuivasa become one of the most exciting fighters in the promotion.

He had been riding a three-fight losing streak prior to  the pandemic, but returned last year with a stunning win over Stefan Struve that catapulted him on to a four-fight winning run.

And speaking after the bout, he declared that he would return to his native Australia for Christmas before getting back in the octagon in the new year.

“Like I said in my past interviews, I feel I’m getting better and better at this sport,” Tuivasa told Joe Rogan in the octagon.

“I heard my corner say ‘that left’s opening him up’, I just had to stay on my edge and just stalk him and hunt him down.

“I said it before, I’m a banger from f***ing Western Sydney and I’ll bang on with anyone – I come here, I put the show on for a crowd. I’ll fight anyone.”

Tuivasa’s celebration is reminiscent of the former WWE star Steve Austin, who would famously drink beers as he arrived into the ring for his wrestling matches.

And Austin approved of Tuivasa’s form, responding to a tweet from MMA reporter Ariel Helwani saying his celebration was “A+”, and worthy of his famous catchphrase “hell yeah”.