Tai Tuivasa Loses Split Decision to Robelis Despaigne, Ties UFC Record
The roar came early for Tai Tuivasa. It didn’t last.
On the UFC 331 prelims at Crypto.com Arena in Los Angeles, the heavyweight fan favorite walked out to another thunderous reception, then walked straight into a piece of history no fighter wants. A split-decision loss to Robelis Despaigne – 29-28, 28-29, 29-28 – stretched Tuivasa’s skid to eight fights, tying Tony Ferguson for the longest losing streak in UFC history.
The night began with chaos. The very first clean punch Despaigne landed dumped Tuivasa onto the canvas, a jarring moment that silenced the crowd for a beat. Tuivasa bounced straight back up, teeth bared, and charged into a wild exchange. Both men swung with bad intentions, trading huge hooks in a frantic opening minute that looked more like a brawl in a phone booth than a measured heavyweight contest.
Then the fight changed shape.
Despaigne dragged Tuivasa into the clinch and worked him to the mat, climbing into full mount and threatening to turn an early knockdown into a dominant round. Tuivasa, though, stayed calm, defended well, and muscled his way back to his feet. The Australian answered with his own takedown late in the frame, finishing the round on top and hunting for a head-and-arm choke as the horn sounded. The crowd, back on his side, sensed a momentum swing.
Tuivasa came out for Round 2 like a man trying to slam the door on a bad chapter. He marched forward, throwing heavy leather, clipping Despaigne with a couple of solid shots before tying him up again. When they separated, Despaigne snapped in a sharp knee, then seized control of the next clinch with a slick hip toss that put Tuivasa on his back.
The fight slowed there. Despaigne controlled but did little damage. When the action stalled, the referee stood them up, leaving the scorecards finely poised heading into the final five minutes.
That last round never turned into the desperate sprint many expected from Tuivasa.
He landed a hard inside leg kick that knocked Despaigne off balance, then immediately crashed into the clinch, looking to wrestle rather than roll the dice at distance. Despaigne created just enough space to answer with clean, damaging punches, opening up Tuivasa’s nose and leaving blood streaked across his face. Another well-timed hip toss from Despaigne bled precious seconds off the clock.
By the time Tuivasa scrambled back to his feet in the final 10 seconds, the chance to snatch the fight back had gone. The horn sounded with him stuck at range, unable to launch the kind of last-ditch salvo that once made him one of the division’s most feared finishers.
Two judges sided with Despaigne’s control and cleaner work. One leaned toward Tuivasa. The split went the Cuban’s way.
For Despaigne, it’s a gritty, much-needed result to open his second UFC stint. His first run in 2024 started with a flash – an 18-second knockout of Josh Parisian – then sagged badly with flat decision losses to Waldo Cortes-Acosta and Austen Lane. This time, he didn’t produce a highlight-reel finish, but he did something just as valuable: he managed the chaos, survived the early storm, and banked rounds in a measured, professional performance.
For Tuivasa, the numbers are stark. He falls to 14-11 overall and 8-11 in the UFC. His last win came back in February 2022, a brutal second-round stoppage of Derrick Lewis at UFC 271 that felt, at the time, like the launchpad to a title run. Since then, eight straight defeats have turned that rise into a painful freefall.
On a night that was supposed to be about getting back on track, Tuivasa instead walked out of the cage sharing a record no veteran wants attached to his name. The question now is simple and brutal: how many more times will the UFC let him try to rewrite this ending?
