‘I can knock him out with one leg’: Justin Tafa planning highlight reel comeback a month after knee injury
Just one month after injury forced him out a day before his UFC 298 fight, Justin Tafa is back in action this weekend, writes BRENDAN BRADFORD.
Justin Tafa can’t help laughing about the matching limps his four-man fight team all had in the departures lounge at LAX a month ago.
In one way or another, it had been a rough week for all of them.
Tafa should have fought at UFC 298 in Anaheim that week, with a spot in the top 15 of the heavyweight rankings up for grabs. Instead he injured ligaments in his knee just three days before the fight and was forced to pull out.
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In Tafa’s absence, his younger brother, Junior, stepped in and fought Marcos Rogerio de Lima. In doing so, he became the latest late notice replacement fighter in UFC history, completing his 10-push-up training camp in the hotel lobby 90 minutes before weighing-in.
A series of savage first round low kicks from de Lima meant Junior could barely walk at the start of the second round, and he was stopped shortly after it started.
A third Tafa brother got gout, while cornerman and training partner Glen Sparv suffered a bad foot injury training in LA.
That’s four limps, and a sorry looking crew flying out of California.
“It was funny, everyone had a leg injury – the whole corner,” Tafa laughs ahead of his comeback against Karl Williams in this weekend’s co-main event in Las Vegas. “It was pretty funny. Maybe we just ease up on the training a little bit – it’s a fine line.
“You never want to leave a stone unturned in training, but sometimes you should leave that stone unturned.”
He can laugh about it now, but Tafa cast a forlorn figure in the minutes after he officially pulled out on weigh-in day.
“It was pretty cool to see my brother, honestly, but I was just trying to look ahead as well,” he said. “I’ve got bills to pay, I’ve got a family. That was my first thought.
“Those fight weeks are pretty costly, you fly your team over, all the food and everything. It’s a lot of the purse right there.”
With three first round knockout wins in his last four fights, Tafa was also robbed of the chance to showcase his all-round ability.
“I want to show my growth in my training,” he said. “I train hard and respect all the different martial arts.
“I put a lot of work into my grappling and I want to showcase that so the world can see that I don’t just bang. There’s calculated things I do.
“I’m a firefighter, but I’m in there trying to figure out smartly how to put those fires out.”
He’ll get another chance to do that this weekend against the 9-1 Williams.
In a nice full-circle moment, Williams was the man Junior was scheduled to face before he replaced Justin five weeks ago.
Justin is adamant his knee has healed enough to put on another impressive performance and move into the rankings.
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“I was going to take another month or two to get the knee proper and 100%, but I was like ‘stuff it, I can beat this guy with one leg’,” he said. “Every win is another step towards the rankings.
“He’s pretty good, and he hasn’t dropped a fight in the UFC. But I feel like he’s a safe, boring fighter who likes to grapple.
“He’s not very entertaining, but I’m the opposite. That’s why we’re co-main event. It’s not because of him, it’s because of me.”
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