Tai Tuivasa knocks out Derrick Lewis UFC271 Houston

Tai Tuivasa shocked the world and stunned the home crowd after knocking out Derrick Lewis at UFC271.

The Aussie was was on the backfoot throughout the fight against the UFC’s knockout king before a rogue elbow knocked the Houston native and he never recovered.

‘That’s the king of knockouts, much respect to Derrick, but I’m young and I’m taking over now,’ he told former heavyweight champion Daniel Cormier after the fight.

The Aussie was was on the backfoot throughout the fight against the UFC’s knockout king before a rogue elbow knocked the Houston native and he never recovered

Tuivasa, who had won four-consecutive fights entering the fight, admitted he accepted the bout while drunk.

‘We were planning to move up and fight him eventually. He’s the no.3 in the world. 

‘I did an interview on the piss. A few drinks later they said do you want to fight Derrick. I said ‘sweet, it’s on’, and I had to stop drinking piss.

Tuivasa said it wasn’t ‘in his plans’ to fight Lewis so soon, particularly in his hometown of Houston, but he said ‘why wouldn’t I’ take the challenge if it presented himself.

Tuivasa, who proudly represents Mount Druitt, lost the first round after Lewis repeatedly took him down.

Lewis, the Knockout King, buckled under an elbow from the 28-year-old western Sydney native who earned easily the biggest win of his career

Tuivasa celebrated in his typical fashion by drinking a shoey after his shock win over Lewis

The second round it appeared Lewis was in control again, throwing his trademark right hooks and clearly wobbling the 28-year-old.

‘I knew I was danger,’ he said. ‘But I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again. I’m a banger from western Sydney. I’ll bang till the day I die’. 

However, Tuivasa threw a deadly right while Lewis was looking for the finisher, ending the fight in the second round. 

Lewis, seemingly out of nowhere, fell to his stomach after the clinch elbow from the 28-year-old, with the homecrowd stunned and Australia in hysterics. 

‘Bam Bam Tuivasa, with the biggest win of this life,’ commentator Jon Anik said as Lewis buckled.

‘Tuivasa has done it, he’ll be in the top three next week. Many of you know what will come next,’ as Tuivasa lined up his shoey with pubs around Australia exploding. 

‘Tuivasa has done it, he’ll be in the top three next week.’

Tuivasa knocked out the Knockout King in front of his home Houston audience

After the fight the Aussie was full of confidence. 

‘My name’s Tai, like muay thai. I’m nitty gritty, and I’m always down to get down baby.’

‘Bam Bam from western Sydney baby, whoever, whenever.’ 

The UFC’s morefront journalist Ariel Helwani said Tuivasa had even won over Lewis’ home crowd.

‘Tuivasa just KO’d the hometown guy and is getting a ton of love. People just love him,’ he tweeted. 

The heavyweight starlet said he was more than prepared for the fight with the UFC’s most decatorated KO champ.

‘I was Mark Hunt’s punching bag for a long time,’ he said of the former Aussie.