“Bam Bam” is back.
Fan-favorite Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) Heavyweight Tai Tuivasa finally returns to action against fellow hard-hitting Brazilian Tallison Teixeira at UFC 325 on Sat., Jan. 31, 2026 inside Qudos Bank Arena in Sydney, Australia.
The matchup was first reported by Brazilian journalist Laerte Viana, who noted that while bout agreements have not yet been signed, both fighters have verbally agreed to the fight.
Tuivasa (14-8) has been sidelined since Aug. 2024 and is in dire need of a rebound. The beloved Australian slugger is riding a five-fight losing streak — the longest skid of his career. His most recent outing saw him drop a split decision to Jairzinho Rozenstruik. Before that, he suffered four straight stoppage losses to elite competition, including Ciryl Gane, Sergei Pavlovich (watch highlights), and Alexander Volkov.
After ballooning in weight during his layoff, Tuivasa has reportedly returned to proper fight shape with two months to go — but he has a tough test ahead.
Teixeira (8-1) is coming off the first loss of his professional career, a 35-second knockout at the hands of Derrick Lewis — a stoppage that many felt was premature (watch highlights). Before that setback, “Xicao” bulldozed his way through the competition with eight straight first-round finishes, including a blistering debut knockout of Justin Tafa (watch highlights).
Currently ranked No. 15, Teixeira now has the opportunity to swipe Tuivasa’s No. 12 spot in the division with a statement win.
He’s seemingly enjoyed obesity so I wouldn’t expect much from his return but a paycheck.
Oh Jesus tough match up for tai
The rest of the card was unveiled during UFC 323 on Saturday night. Take a look:
Alexander Volkanovski vs. Diego Lopes (for featherweight title)
Dan Hooker vs. Benoit Saint Denis
Rafael Fiziev vs. Mauricio Ruffy
Jimmy Crute vs. Dustin Jacoby
Tallison Teixeira vs. Tai Tuivasa
Quillan Salkilld vs. Rong Zhu
Ante Delija vs. Serghei Spivac
Oban Elliott vs. Jonathan Micallef
Kaan Ofli vs. Yi Zha
Billy Elekana vs. Junior Tafa
Cody Brundage vs. Cam Rowston
Torrez Finney vs. Jacob Malkoun
Damn, I’d completely forgotten about Tai. I hope he’s been working on rounding out his skillset.
I hope volk beats him so fucking bad the new paramount gods think twice about forcing a champ on us.