MELBOURNE, Australia – It may have come earlier than expected, but Justin Tafa is ready to showcase his punching power on the big stage when he takes on fellow debutant Yorgan De Castro on Saturday (Sunday locally) at UFC 243.
Speaking with MMA Junkie, Tafa (3-0 MMA, 0-0 UFC) admitted he was caught by surprise by his early UFC call-up. But while some athletes have opted to turn down the UFC’s initial approaches, Tafa was more than happy to accept the challenge head on.
“I was thinking maybe at the end of next year [I’d get a call] – that was my goal,” Tafa said. “But, man, they just came knocking after my last fight, and I was like, ‘I’ll take it, bro. One hundred percent.’
“The thing was, I finished my fight and then I went and took my partner and my son to Bali and then I get a phone call and someone’s like, ‘Hey, I think the UFC are interested in you.’ And I was like, ‘What the heck?’ Not once did I ever plead (for it). Because a lot of people right now, they get to social media and they put their ‘last name 4UFC’ hashtag and whatnot. But for me they came looking for me, and I was like, sweet. They wanted me on the Contender (Series) originally, and then they ended up bumping me onto the card (in Melbourne), and I was like, ‘I’ll take it.'”
Tafa only has three professional fights under his belt, but he has a wealth of experience to call upon in the form of his training partner, mentor and martial arts legend Mark Hunt. Tafa said that being a part of Hunt’s corner for his past fights has given him invaluable big-fight experience as he followed a solid piece of advice of UFC 243 star Israel Adesanya.
“I’ve been blessed to walk out (with) Mark Hunt, and before one of his cards I saw Israel and he said, ‘Hey man. When you take that walk, pretend it’s yourself, because in the future… it’s only time.’ So when Mark walked out – and you know the reception he gets – I took it as if it was my own. And once I got to the cage, I was like, ‘Man, I can do this.’ After that I was like, ‘Bro! I’m definitely doing this! I can do this walk!’ And I can do the walk-off, too!'”
Tafa’s ability to finish fights in sudden, devastating fashion follows in the footsteps of his predecessors, Hunt and Ray Sefo, and he comes from solid fighting stock, as he explained.
“My grandfather was a national light heavyweight boxing champion, and my uncles were world kickboxing champions. One of them fought Mark in K-1, so it’s just in the blood.”
. . .
When asked what he learned the most from training with Hunt, Tafa laughed: “Keep your guard up. Nah, It’s the mental game. That guy, he’s got no hesitation. You talk to him, and he might have a bad training session, and he’ll be like, ‘I’m still knocking that guy out!’ And I’m like, ‘Damn!’ No matter what he’ll go through, he’s adamant, and I want to have that same mentality. That’s really helped me.”
. . .
“I want to knock guys out. . . . That’s all I want to do. I want (to make) a good impression. I want people to see that I’m not just your typical banger. I do have an all-around game. I do have a good cardio tank. So it’s going to be: ‘Damn, this Samoan’s got some cardio! Oh (expletive)!’”
https://mmajunkie.usatoday.com/2019/10/mark-hunt-protege-justin-tafa-ready-to-debut-ufc-243Let’s go!!!!
