Tai Tuivasa and the weirdest UFC tradition ever

Tai Tuivasa is a top UFC heavyweight from Australia, famous for his knock-down punches and unforgettable action he delivers both in the octagon and beyond its fence. Fans adore Tuivasa for how friendly and open he is with everyone around – they also adore his very strange ritual: after each victory, Tai drinks beer from sneakers. MMA.Metaratings.ru will shed some light on the roots of this tradition and will name some other guys who followed Tai’s example.

After defeating Derrick Lewis at UFC 271, Tuivasa once again surprised the audience by drinking beer from a sneaker. Tai does this every time after winning. This fighter is brutal enough to use his own shoes for drinking or borrow some from his fans and audience.

The best drink? The one with spit in it.

Tai Tuivasa

It may sound strange but Tuivasa is not the first to do this. Australians claim that there is such a tradition on the Green Continent and it is called "shoey". Athletes from Australia believe that this brings good luck in the future. What exactly you need to drink is absolutely unimportant.

Australian racers were the first to drink from shoes, but this custom became popular thanks to Formula 1 driver Daniel Ricciardo. Soon, a kind of tradition came to motorcycle racers. Jack Miller took over, and the legendary Valentino Rossi "peeped" an unusual ritual from Australian colleagues. Basketball player Nathan Jawai was no exception, who could do such a ritual after a two-hour workout.

However, it was Tuivasa who became the pioneer of such kind of “style” in the UFC. The fighter absolutely doesn't care that some people don't like his image of a crazy guy drinking out of shoes, Tai understands that he is not only a showman, but also a top fighter who is currently on a series of five victories in a row.

I don’t mind being a guy who drinks piss out of shoes, this and that, because I suppose everyone just focuses on all of that but at the end of the day I’m knocking the best in the world out, so it’s up to yous or whoever takes it however that is, but like I said I’ve got a great team around me now. I’ve got guys who have the best interests for me and f*ck we’re doing all right you know..

Tai Tuivasa

Prior to the fight with Derrick Lewis, Tai went out of his way to get his opponent to drink beer from a boot for the first time. Derrick joked for a long time, but then said that he just could not do it.

He's good, man, I like Tai. I really appreciate the fact that he knocked out Greg Hardy, as he did in the last fight. Greg has been talking a lot of nonsense so I appreciate it, but I just don't like the “shoe thing”. Beer that they drink from a shoe and so on - I don't like it, it's disgusting! My feet smell like cheese, I don't know...

Derrick Lewis

To the journalist Ariel Helwani Tai offered to pee in his shoe. Helwani refused, but from what he said, Tuivasa had already done that.

Tuivasa just asked me for my shoe to do a shoey. I said I didn’t have alcohol. He said I can piss in it. I asked if he’s ever had that, he said hell yeah. I did not give him my shoe.

Ariel Helwani

Unlike Lewis and Helwani, not everyone is so principled. Moreover, a bad example is contagious. Reigning UFC Featherweight Champion and Tuivasa's compatriot Alexander Volkanovski repeated his ritual.

The reigning UFC middleweight champion Israel Adesanya also did not stand aside.

Donald Cerrone went even further and drank beer from a cowboy boot.

The most interesting thing is that even UFC President Dana White decided on this. Tai was overjoyed that the head of the promotion agreed to the insane ritual.

I feel great. The boss himself did a shoey from my shoeyvasa.

Tai Tuivasa

Tai realized that he became insanely popular thanks to shoes. That is why the UFC fighter decided to open his own store, where they will not only sell but also pour into shoes. The store is called Shoevasa. The opening of the store was announced with a funny video in which the public watches the ritual of Tuivasa with delight. Unfortunately, this is just a montage, but an epic one.

We hope Tai will continue his winning streak, so we could continue to watch his crazy Australian rituals.