Heavyweights
Tai Tuivasa (8-2) vs. Sergey Spivak (9-1)Advertisement
He still seems set to be an Australian star, but Tuivasa is at a bit of a crossroads when it comes to his development as a prospect. The affable Aussie has a dynamic athleticism that belies his flabby frame, and he is a textbook case of the frustrations of developing a young heavyweight. There just is not an easy way for Tuivasa to get in valuable work, as most opponents boil down to one of two types: overmatched non-athletes that he can easily knock out or the savvier veterans of the division with enough depth of skill to keep him at bay. As a result, Tuivasa’s strength of competition essentially jumped from the former to the latter. After knocking out Cyril Asker in early 2018, “Bam Bam” got a narrow win over Andrei Arlovski -- one of the few heavyweights who falls somewhere in a middle tier -- before being rushed into a main event against Junior dos Santos.
To his credit, Tuivasa came close to scoring wins over dos Santos and subsequent opponent Blagoy Ivanov, and he does generally seem to be developing more ideas past focusing solely on offense. He will be fine in the long run, particularly as a 26-year-old heavyweight, but it does seem like it will be a frustrating path to the top for Tuivasa, who will likely suffer a few more losses before finally breaking through to championship form. Spivak does not figure to offer much of a challenge. While he is actually not too bad of a prospect, his quick debut loss to Walt Harris certainly does not bode well for his ability to make the jump in competition against high-level athletes.
Spivak has some tricky submission tools, so there is the off chance he could catch something if Tuivasa takes things to the ground and gets too reckless. However, this looks like a reprise of Tuivasa’s Asker fight and should give the Melbourne faithful something for which to cheer. The pick is Tuivasa via first-round knockout.
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