Justin Willis calls for loser-leaves-UFC fight vs. Tai Tuivasa
On the heels of his reported release from the UFC, Justin Willis is calling for a loser-leaves-town fight with longtime heavyweight rival Tai Tuivasa.
“We’re fighting for a contract,” Willis told MMA Junkie on Wednesday. “Whoever loses gets cut. Don’t be a (expletive), homie. What side?”
On the topic of that contract, which multiple outlets confirmed had been revoked following a “big miscommunication and a technical difficulty” with the UFC, Willis added: “Be patient.”
“Pretty has a simple question for you,” he said of Tuivasa. “Yes or no, do you want to fight?”
Willis wrote as much in response to Tuivasa’s latest salvo, an Instagram meme showing Willis panhandling.
In April, Tuivasa told Submission Radio the two eventually would fight, sanctioned or not. He crudely mocked Willis’ lopsided loss to Curtis Blaydes in March, comparing it to a sexual assault.
“I’m going to catch up with him whenever I catch up with him,” Tuivasa said. “At the end of the day, he’s killing his own career, I think, talking (expletive) and then coming out and being (expletive). He needs to be slapped. I’m going to pull his pants down and play with his bum.”
Willis and Tuivasa nearly got into it backstage last December after Willis beat Tuivasa’s mentor, Mark Hunt, on home soil in Australia. Willis reportedly refused to speak about Tuivasa prior to fight. Afterward, he responded to an in-cage callout by saying Tuivasa was “concussed” after a TKO loss to Junior Dos Santos.
Earlier this month, Tuivasa returned to the octagon after his setback and lost a unanimous decision against ex-Bellator champ Blagoy Ivanov. He now stands at 8-2 in the octagon.
Willis, meanwhile, stands at 4-1 in the UFC. But according to UFC president Dana White, he and middleweight veteran Elias Theodorou were cut because they had no chance of becoming top-five ranked fighters in their respective divisions.
For more on the UFC’s upcoming schedule, check out the UFC Rumors section of the site.