Tai Tuivasa Falls to Robelis Despaigne: UFC Record Tied

Tai Tuivasa walked into Crypto.com Arena chasing a fresh start. He walked out level with one of the bleakest marks in UFC history.

The Australian heavyweight dropped a split decision to Robelis Despaigne on the UFC 331 prelims in Los Angeles, a result that stretches his losing streak to eight and pulls him alongside Tony Ferguson for the most consecutive defeats in UFC history. The cards read 29-28, 28-29, 29-28 for Despaigne, who grinds out a win in his second stint with the promotion.

It began in chaos.

The first clean punch Despaigne landed dumped Tuivasa straight to the canvas, a jarring moment that briefly silenced the arena. Tuivasa bounced up as if insulted by the knockdown and immediately bit down on the mouthpiece, winging hooks in a wild, crowd-pleasing exchange that turned the opening minute into a brawl.

Then the fight changed shape.

Despaigne dragged Tuivasa into the clinch and worked him to the mat, climbing into full mount. For a moment, it looked like the Cuban might blow the doors off the bout right there. Tuivasa stayed calm, survived the position, and scrambled back to his feet. He answered with his own takedown late in the round, muscling Despaigne to the canvas and chasing a head-and-arm choke as the clock bled out. The submission never quite tightened, but the message was clear: Tuivasa was prepared to wrestle his way out of trouble if he had to.

Round 2

Round 2 opened with Tuivasa doing what he does best — swinging hard and with bad intentions. He tagged Despaigne with a couple of heavy shots and forced another clinch, trying to bully his man on the inside. Despaigne found a neat answer. After a brief separation, he slipped in a sharp knee, then used the next tie-up to hit a clean hip toss, landing on top and cooling the pace.

The action stalled on the ground, and the referee intervened, standing them up to send the fight into its final frame with everything still to play for.

Five minutes left. A career hanging in the balance. Tuivasa, though, never quite emptied the tank in open space. He chopped at Despaigne’s lead leg with a hard inside kick that knocked the Cuban off balance, then immediately closed distance again, hunting another takedown rather than risking prolonged exchanges at range.

Despaigne answered with composure. He created pockets of space, picked his shots, and opened Tuivasa’s nose with clean, damaging punches. When the Australian tried once more to clinch his way forward, Despaigne again turned to the hip toss, dumping him and letting the seconds drip away. By the time Tuivasa scrambled up in the final 10 seconds, there was no time left to change the story.

When the scorecards were read, the margins were as narrow as the fight had felt, but they fell Despaigne’s way. For Tuivasa, whose last victory came with a second-round finish of Derrick Lewis at UFC 271 in February 2022, the result cements a brutal two-and-a-half-year slide.

Despaigne, meanwhile, steadies his own footing. His first UFC run in 2024 flashed promise and frustration in equal measure: an 18-second knockout of Josh Parisian in his debut, followed by flat decision losses to Waldo Cortes-Acosta and Austen Lane. This time, there was no early blitz, no viral finish. Just a hard, grinding performance that banked him rounds and a much-needed win.

UFC 331 Undercard Results

• Robelis Despaigne def. Tai Tuivasa via split decision (29-28, 28-29, 29-28)
• Michael Aswell Jr. def. JooSang Yoo via split decision (29-28, 28-29, 29-28)
• Ryan Gandra def. Ozzy Diaz via knockout (punches) – Round 1, 2:04
• Edmen Shahbazyan def. Brunno Ferreira via unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 30-27)
• Casey O'Neill def. Eduarda Moura via submission (armbar) – Round 1, 3:22
• Joanderson Brito def. Giga Chikadze via knockout (punches) – Round 1, 1:57

For Tuivasa, the numbers now sit starkly beside his name: eight straight losses, 8-11 in the UFC, and no win since that wild night against Lewis. The power and personality that once made him one of the division’s must-watch attractions are still there. The results are not.

The question now is whether he gets another chance to turn that around.