PERTH, Australia – Justin Tafa is happy with how he got out of the gate in 2023.
The heavyweight scored a quick and brutal knockout over Parker Porter on the main card of Saturday’s UFC 284 at RAC Arena in Perth, Australia. Tafa (6-3 MMA, 3-3 UFC) slept Porter just 66 seconds into the contest. It was as clean as it gets with a knockout, and no follow-up shots were needed.
“There’s nothing like a walk-off KO in Australia, your home turf, hometown, home soil,” Tafa told reporters at his UFC 284 post-fight news conference.
The 29-year-old now has back-to-back wins in the UFC for the first time and is happy with the victory and some of the strides he made.
“For me, it’s all these intangible things that you don’t see – mental things, being able to absorb the crowd’s energy without making it blind your vision, and all that,” Tafa said. “It’s good to come back and knock someone out in front of my sons. They didn’t believe me that I knock people out.”
Tafa is hoping to get a quick return. He wants in on the UFC 287 card in Miami on April 8 – an event headlined by a middleweight title rematch between Alex Pereira and Israel Adesanya.
“I’m thinking that card that Izzy is on,” Tafa said of his return. “My little brother might be on that, so I want to be on the same – you know, save some flight money in there.”
For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC 284.
