In the minutes after losing his fourth straight UFC fight, Tai Tuivasa didn’t even pause long enough to put on a pair of slides.

Instead, the hulking Australian heavyweight walked out of the cage, then straight out a backdoor of the UFC Apex Centre and into the Las Vegas night.

“Barefoot,” he recalls, “and still in my fight gear …”

Can you see it?

Certainly this fella from Mt Druitt housing commission stock still can.

“I was so angry,” Tuivasa continues, opening up for the first time about those minutes following his shock first round submission loss to Marcin Tybura in March.

UFC 305 LIVE FROM PERTH: DU PLESSIS VS ADESANYA | SUN 18 AUG 12PM AEST | Order Now with Main Event on Kayo Sports. Main Event on Kayo Sports and Foxtel is the exclusive home of UFC Pay-Per-View.

When already on a run of three losses, and now having dropped a fourth, he walked from the cage, then the venue — walking alone, and with no destination to speak of, down one of the deserted neighboring streets.

“And my head,” he recounts, “it was everywhere.

“I just kept saying to myself ‘how s*** is this … how s*** is it to be a loser’.”

Kicking back now inside Perth’s sprawling Hyatt Regency hotel, Tuivasa is walking Fox Sports Australia through one of the longest losing stretches of any UFC fighter not named Tony Ferguson.

None of which will change the ‘pop’ this cult heavyweight receives when walking out to face Jairzinho Rozenstruik at UFC 305 this Sunday.

Understanding that here Down Under, Tuiavasa will always be that favourite who enters arenas to Barbie Girl.

Or Horses.

Who wins, then drinks from a stranger’s shoe, shows off his lip tattoo – “Eshaaaaaaaay” — then departs as delirious fans pour the contents of plastic beer cups down from the bleachers for him to drink, mouth open, arms raised.

More than being the man with Australia’s heaviest hands, Bam Bam is one the most beloved UFC characters anywhere globally.

Yet just lately, Shoeyvasa has been, err, struggling.

“Going through a lot of s***,” is how the fighter starts, before then politely declining to expand much further.

Which, to be fair, is how Tuivasa has been since way back when carrying Steedens as a promising Roosters prop.

Saying little, but carrying the biggest of sticks.

“But it’s nothing to do with fighting,” the 31-year-old, eventually concedes, dressed down this particular day in a black hoodie and track pants.

“It’s personal stuff.

“Life.”

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Yet over the past year, he admits, fighting and life have collided big time.

“The reason for losing my last couple of fights,” he says, referencing submission losses to Tybura and Alexander Volkov, “it’s been mental.

“Those times, I haven’t been in the fight. Or not really.

“I wanted to fight.

“Wanted to hurt.

“But I just wasn’t there, you know?

“I’ve carried s*** from outside the cage into my fights, and it’s shown.”

Which is why, after losing to Tybura five months ago, Tuivasa disappeared from the Octagon, then venue.

Walking barefoot, and alone, with no destination in mind.

“Because I really wanted that fight to be where everything changed,” he says. “Wanted that to be my comeback.

“But I was still too angry.

“So it wasn’t.”

At which point, Tuiavasa suddenly offers a smile.

“But now,” he grins, “I see light at the end of the tunnel”.

A comment, you should know, which comes from more than Tuivasa having finally brought a close to those issues that have been impacting him outside the cage.

Or from having regained a confidence that increasingly disappeared through four straight defeats starting with that world title eliminator against Ciryl Gane in 2022.

Just as importantly, Tuiavsa has spent the past two months living and training in Dubai – just as he did prior to the biggest wins of his career.

Which is a big change up from more recent camps, where Bam Bam has stayed at home in western Sydney to be close to his son, his family, his community.

“But it gets to the point where you say ‘OK, f*** it’,” Tuivasa explains.

“Having to leave my son, it’s tough.

“But I’m from the hood, man.

“I know nobody changes anything but me.”

So off to the Middle East he went.

“And over in Dubai,” he continues, “I’m away from everything and everyone.

“The only thing on my mind is fighting.”

Which matters for a fella famed for drinking beer from boots, sneakers, whatever.

“Because I’m a normal bloke,” he shrugs. “Love my mates, love a drink.

“I’ve got a lot of family in Sydney, a lot of friends and things going on.

“Again, I’m a f***ing normal person and it’s easy for me to get caught up.

“Which is why I needed to get away.

“And in Dubai, I’m away from everything.

“Tuned in.

“I’ve been off the drink … absolutely focused.”

UFC 305 LIVE FROM PERTH: DU PLESSIS VS ADESANYA | SUN 18 AUG 12PM AEST | Order Now with Main Event on Kayo Sports. Main Event on Kayo Sports and Foxtel is the exclusive home of UFC Pay-Per-View.

Again, which matters when you remember Tuivasa is the Sydney street fighter who rose up to become one of the most recognised faces in the UFC.

A man who KO’d Derrick Lewis at UFC 271.

A fella who headlined against Gane in Paris.

A fighter whose ability to ice some of the world’s toughest hombres has also inspired various business ventures, including the Drink West beer label he now runs with a group including NRL superstar Nathan Cleary.

“And I feel prepared now,” Tuivasa insists of Sunday’s showdown.

“Not just physically fit, either.

“I’m mentally ready.

“And fighting, it’s 80 per cent mental.

“So I’m not going in there just to get things f***ing done with.

“I’m going in there to win.

“And I know I’ve done everything to prepare for that.”

Remember too, that after exploding into the UFC with three straight wins, Tuivasa then went and lost three more in a row – with many questioning if a fourth loss to Stefan Struve at UFC 254 would see him cut.

Then, thwack.

Apart from icing Struve in spectacular fashion, Bam Bam then began a run that would see him win five straight, finish the ‘KO King’ and, incredibly, see his beer label partner with the UFC.

“So,” he says, “you know I’ve done this before”.

Importantly, too, Tuivasa insists he has now completely overhauled that fighter who walked off into the Las Vegas darkness.

“And, look, nobody wants to be a loser,” he says simply.

“But that’s how this sport goes.

“You win or you lose, that’s it.

“And while I wanted that last fight to be my time, it just wasn’t.”

But now?

“Now I’ve come out the other side,” he insists.

“And it’s because my whole life has been about this.

“Where I’m from, I was born on the losing side.

“So this whole thing is nothing I’m not familiar with.

“For me, it’s always been about overcoming.

“And the only person who does that for me, is me.”