Tai Tuivasa and Tallison Teixeira meet on the UFC 325 main card Saturday at Qudos Bank Arena in Sydney. Check out this quick breakdown of the matchup from MMA Junkie analyst Dan Tom.
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Last event’s results: 3-2
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UFC main cards, 2026: 3-2
Tai Tuivasa vs. Tallison Teixeira UFC 325 preview
Tuivasa (14-8 MMA, 8-8 UFC) returns to action and will look to stop the bleeding of a five-fight skid, stretching back to 2022. The last win for Tuivasa was a second-round stoppage of Derrick Lewis at UFC 271. Since then, he’s lost five in a row, including four consecutive by stoppage. Tuivasa’s most recent outing was a split decision loss vs. Jairzinho Rozenstruik at UFC 305 in August 2024.
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Teixeira (8-1 MMA, 1-1 UFC) experienced defeat for the first time in his pro career in July, losing to Derrick Lewis in just 35 seconds last July. Prior to that huge step up in competition, Teixeira won his UFC debut by stopping Justin Tafa in the exact same amount of time.
Tai Tuivasa vs. Tallison Teixeira UFC 325 expert pick, prediction
Filling out the main card is a heavyweight showdown between Tai Tuivasa and Tallison Teixeira.
Although gamblers and casual fans alike feel like this volatile fight is somehow a lock for Teixeira, I believe that this could be a deceptive trap fight for the up-and-coming Brazilian.
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Whether you include Teixeira’s knockout loss to Derrick Lewis or his quick fight on Dana White’s Contender Series, “Xicao” barely has half a round of fighting inside the octagon for his sample size.
And outside of lacking quality wins, Teixeira also appears to lack quality training partners around his size, which – coupled with his inexperience – led me to pick Lewis over him last time out.
Whereas Tuivasa, whose stock is at an all-time low, has apparently gotten out of his comfort zone of Western Australia and back with the high-level team in Dubai that was behind “Bam Bam” on his last successful winning streak.
For that reason, I’ll take a flier on the unpopular underdog in Tuivasa to remind the masses of both the sport and the division that they seem to be so sure on.
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The pick is Tuivasa to find a knockout by the mid-point of Round 2.
Tai Tuivasa vs. Tallison Teixeira UFC 325 odds
The oddsmakers and the public are heavily favoring the Brazilian fighter, listing Teixeira -340 and Tuivasa +260 via FanDuel.
Tai Tuivasa vs. Tallison Teixeira UFC 325 start time, how to watch
Tuivasa and Teixeira are expected to walk to the cage at approximately 8:40 p.m. ET. The fight streams live on Paramount+.
This article originally appeared on MMA Junkie: UFC 325: Tai Tuivasa vs. Tallison Teixeira prediction, start time
