Stone Cold Steve Austin rates Tai Tuivasa’s beer swilling skills

I remember the first time Tai Tuivasa did a shoey in UFC. Twas the afternoon of Feb. 11, 2018, in Perth, Australia. A fresh-faced Tuivasa won his second fight in the promotion, and cameras caught him celebrating with fans by taking their shoe and drinking a beer out of it. Thus, an epic mixed martial arts (MMA) tradition was born.

At first everyone seemed appropriately disgusted and concerned. But, it wasn’t long before “The Shoey” became a phenomenon not just amongst rowdy Australian fans at Tuivasa fights, but amongst commentators and anyone UFC adjacent looking for a few clicks or views.

These days, when Tai wins, the whole arena explodes into an orgy of flying suds and stinky footwear. At UFC 269, “Bam Bam” extended his win streak to four in a row with a nasty knockout win over Augusto Sakai (watch the kill shot here), and the image of him triumphant on the cage being tossed a beer and a sneaker was one of the highlights of the night.

And because Gods recognize Gods, Tuivasa has now received his props from another avid kicker of asses and drinker of beer, one “Stone Cold” Steve Austin. MMA Fighting’s Ariel Helwani asked the WWE superstar what he thought of Tai’s routine, which his team has gotten down to a precise operation. Austin gave an enthusiastic “Hell yeah!”

Tuivasa’s thunderous knockout of Sakai earned him a $50,000 “Performance of the Night” bonus check and will undoubtedly break him into the Top 15 rankings. Before tonight, Tai was unranked while Sakai sat at No. 11. Dispatching Augusto so violently should move the Australian up to striking range of the Top 10.

The only problem here is that as the skill of his opponents go up, the risk of Tuivasa losing goes up, too, lowering the chances of a victory shoey. No one wants to do a sad defeat shoey, that’s for sure.

If it turns out Tuivasa can’t handle the Tom Aspinall and Chris Daukaus types higher up, perhaps we can reach an arrangement: he keeps starching dudes off the rankings, and booze sales at arenas can keep going up as everyone pours beer all over themselves ... and in their smelly shoes.

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