Aussie fan favourite Tai Tuivasa suffers fourth straight defeat in submission loss to Marcin Tybura

Australian fan favourite Tai ‘Bam Bam’ Tuivasa has suffered his fourth straight loss in the UFC leaving the 31-year-old’s career in tough spot.

Tai Tuivasa has been beaten by Marcin Tybura in Las Vegas. Picture: Getty Images

Tai Tuivasa’s UFC career is at a crossroads after the Western Sydney heavyweight fell to a first round submission defeat to Marcin Tybura in Las Vegas.

A slick rear-naked choke from Tybura saw the fan-favourite succumb to his fourth consecutive defeat in the Octagon.

His main event loss capped off a tough day for the Aussies,

]after Josh Culibao lost a split decision to Danny Silva on the prelims.

Tuivasa started well, and cut Tybura on the head with a massive elbow just 30 seconds in, but the Polish veteran landed a takedown with three minutes remaining in the round.

It was the popular heavyweight’s fourth consecutive loss. Picture: Getty Images

Tybura took Tuivasa’s back and landed a barrage of hammerfists before locking in a read-naked choke.

Only desperate defence kept Tuivasa from going out, before referee Herb Dean stopped it with 52 seconds left in the round.

The loss rounds out a lean two years for Tuivasa, whose September 2022 bout against Cyril Gane was essentially a number one contender fight for the heavyweight title.

In one of the wildest fights of that year, Tuivasa was stopped in the third round, ending an entertaining five-fight win-streak.

Tuivasa was then stopped by Sergei Pavlovich and Alexander Volkov, and now faces an uncertain future in the UFC.

There was frustration for Sydneysider Culibao earlier in the day, with the featherweight dropping a split decision to promotional debutant Silva.

It was an entertaining three-rounder, but Culibao was clearly the smaller fighter after Silva missed weight by two-and-a-half pounds.

Josh Culibao (L) lost a split decision after his opponent Danny Silva missed weight. Picture: Getty Images

‘Kuya’ was rattled early on, and nearly submitted in the first 30 seconds, but fought back well, winning the stand-up exchanges.

Silva’s size and wrestling eventually saw him earn a 29-28, 29-28, 28-29 victory in his UFC debut.

On a wild afternoon at the Apex, co-main event fighter Ange Loosa had to be escorted from the cage after he tried to attack opponent Bryan Battle when their welterweight bout ended in a no contest.

Battle dominated round one, but caught Loosa with a nasty eye-poke a minute into the second.

Referee Mike Beltran called a timeout and the cageside doctor checked on the injury.

When Loosa said he couldn’t see, the bout was immediately waved off.

Well, that got intense pic.twitter.com/xMacmcNHto

— MMA Mania (@mmamania) March 17, 2024

After Bruce Buffer announced that the bout had been ruled a no contest, Battle began screaming at Loosa, who responded with death threats as things threatened to turn physical.

Security guards and Loosa’s team manhandled their fighter out of the cage before chaos broke out.

“I was beating the shit out of him,” Battle said. “You can’t tell me he wasn’t looking for a way out.”

Originally published as Aussie fan favourite Tai Tuivasa suffers fourth straight defeat in submission loss to Marcin Tybura