The Shoey master, Tai Tuivasa, looked to rebound from back-to-back losses in front of a proud hometown crowd tonight (Sat., Oct. 5, 2019) at UFC 243 inside Marvel Arena in Melbourne, Australia, at the expense of Moldova’s Sergey Spivak. Between them, only one fight had ever seen the judges scorecards in more than 20 collective bouts ... and that trend continued this evening as Spivak was able to register a convincing second round arm-triangle choke submission win.
Tuivasa kicked Spivak’s legs literally out from underneath him seconds into the fight, then followed up with a hammerfist as Spivak attempted to roll out danger. Back on the feet, Tuivasa threw a kick, which Spivak caught and turned into a takedown. Tuivasa scooted to the fence and was back on his feet in a flash, landing a nice left hand on the restart. He followed it up with a solid standing elbow. Spivak grabbed him in a head lock and tossed Tuivasa to the floor, but once again he was up quick. On the restart, Spivak landed another takedown and cranked Tuivasa’s neck for a bit before he was able to sneak out and once again get back to his feet. Spivak with another headlock/hip toss as he landed short lefts. He cranked down on the head lock, but Tuivasa was able to escape once more ... only for Spivak to take him down for the fourth time in the round.
Spivak landed a glancing overhand right to start the second stanza. He scored with a jab and then yet another takedown 30 seconds in. Tuivasa escaped and looked to let his hands go, while Spivak appeared to be fatigued. Tuivasa landed a hard right hand down the middle, compelling Spivak to close the distance and mush him up against the cage, dumping Tuivasa back down to the ground for the seventh time. Spivak was able to get in full mount, where he landed a hard elbow that split open Tuivasa — his face was a bloody mess. Spivak maneuvered for an arm triangle choke. He jumped off to the side and squeezed until Tuivasa went down for an early nap.
Bummer for Australian fans and Tuivasa, who is now mired in a dreaded three-fight losing skid. However, Spivak knew what he had to do to win the fight and was relentless. He wore down Tuivasa, hurt him and then choked him unconscious.
Clinical.
Remember that MMAmania.com is delivering LIVE round-by-round, blow-by-blow coverage of the entire UFC 243 fight card this tonight right HERE, starting with the Fight Pass “Prelims” matches online, which are scheduled to begin at 6:30 p.m. ET, then the remaining undercard balance on ESPN 2 at 8 p.m. ET, before the PPV main card start time at 10 p.m. ET on ESPN+.
To check out the latest and greatest UFC 243: “Whittaker vs. Adesanya” news and notes be sure to hit up our comprehensive event archive right here.
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