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‘KO’d somebody three weeks ago’: UFC star’s shock sparring reveal branded ‘not f***ing normal’

While he may be readying to throw down against American Austen Lane – himself a former NFL defensive end – at Qudos Bank Arena this Sunday, 29-year-old Tafa admits, under different circumstances, he could instead be running out for Melbourne in the NRL playoffs.

Certainly others from within the Storm system agree, explaining how this man with some of Australia’s heaviest hands also held his own in that U20s side which, coached by now Manly Sea Eagles boss Anthony Seibold, comprised the likes of Christian Welch, Matt Lodge and Nelson Asofa-Solomona.

“So if I’d stuck at it, I believe I could’ve played NRL, yeah,” Tafa agrees, seated now with Fox Sports Australia inside the UFC fighter hotel.

“Growing up in Auckland, rugby league was my first love.

“Whenever I had a game of footy the next day, I couldn’t sleep the night before.

“I played for Marist Saints, a great club that produced the likes of Sonny Bill Williams, Roy Asotasi, Jerome Ropati … a lot of my mates went on to play in the NRL, too.

“That’s actually how I became a Parramatta fan.

“When one of the guys from my neighbourhood went and played for them.”

Who?

“Manu Mau,” Tafa continues, referencing that backrow enforcer who rose up from both Auckland gang member and jail inmate to play almost 200 first class games and six Tests for New Zealand.

“When he eventually signed with Parramatta it was like the ultimate redemption story, our whole neighbourhood was like ‘oh, man’.

“We’d always known how great he was.

“But to then see how he became a cult figure at the Eels, that’s when I started following the team … I was just so proud of him making it out.

“Manu became like this beacon of light for all of us.

“There’s so many people from my neighbourhood who follow Parramatta because of him.”

For a time, it seemed Tafa was destined for the NRL, too.

“But as you get older, sometimes you lose passion for things,” he shrugs.

“Once footy became like a job for me, things sort’ve switched off.

“It wasn’t the game I loved.

“Although I’m still really content with everything I did in rugby league.

“And being at Melbourne, I learned exactly what it takes to be great at something.

“The Storm is such a cutthroat club, and that’s why they’re so successful.

“Guys like Cam Smith, Billy Slater, Cooper Cronk … for them, it’s all about how the team holds itself, how you hold yourself.

“I remember Ryan Hoffman, he would get up guys if they even pissed on the toilet seat.

“There is a standard there and it’s what my own brothers and I do now in our own little bubble.”

Elsewhere, and on the quiet, Tafa also still enjoys the occasional game of rugby league in Brisbane’s lower grades.

Which isn’t something the UFC knows.

So please don’t tell them.

But as for his last appearance in the middle?

“Ah, it’s been a while now,” he insists.

“Although I was going to lace up the boots a couple of months ago.

“I went back home and was going to have a game with Marist Saints, just run around in reserves, but then I received the contract to fight here in Sydney so thought ‘nah, better not’.

“But I still love my footy.

“And being an Eels fan, man, what a year.

“My jersey has been out, back in the cupboard, then back out, then stashed away again.

“We’ve beaten Penrith twice this year and still aren’t in the finals. It’s crazy.”

Of course, if you want real crazy, you could also rewind back to July, when Tafa and Lane first threw down in what was quickly deemed a No Contest – with an accidental eye poke by the American rendering the Queenslander unable to continue.

So bad was the injury, Tafa initially feared his eyeball had been ripped out. With his first thoughts, while still in the cage, being that he may never be able to see his children again.

However, in the days, then weeks which followed, the eye eventually healed, sparring resumed, and a rematch was declared for Sunday’s Sydney showcase.

Better, Tafa’s younger brother Junior has also joined the UFC this year, and scored a first round KO over American Parker Porter – who big brother has also beaten previously – in Singapore last month.

Having cornered Junior for that fight, the heavyweight dubbed ‘Bad Man’ is now looking to revive his own Octagon run which, before that most recent No Contest against Lane, saw him earn consecutive KOs against Porter and Harry Hunsucker.

Asked about the eye, Tafa said: “It’s all good now, the ophthalmologist is really happy.

“But for the first few weeks afterwards, it was really sensitive to the light.

“I didn’t actually see a replay of the incident until my eye had cleared up.”

And when you did?

“I just thought, ‘man what were you trying to do? What were you trying to get at, bro’,” he says of Lane.

“He wasn’t trying to push my head away, wasn’t trying to punch or elbow me. He just put the arm across my body …”

So what do you think was going on?

“I think maybe he was reacting like a kid does when getting a hiding from his parent,” Tafa shrugs.

“You know when you’re getting smacked, you flinch but don’t really know what you’re doing.

“It’s like I was his father, trying to smack him, and he was out there flinching for his life.”

So as for how quickly he ends the rematch?

“I’ve learned not to chase the KOs,” Tafa says simply. “Because when I don’t chase them, man, they come to me.”