Australian UFC fighter Junior Tafa has revealed how a chaotic rugby league brawl in Queensland helped end his football career and put him on the path to the UFC.
Speaking to Fox Sports Australia ahead of UFC 325 in Sydney, Tafa shared the story of his final rugby league match, which ended with a police escort and a lengthy ban.
“When it came to football I wasn’t that good,” Tafa told Fox Sports Australia. “I only played because my brothers did. In my last ever match I even got a police escort out of the ground and was suspended for sixteen weeks.”
Tafa explained that the incident took place during a bushfooty match in Queensland: “I was playing in this country of Queensland,” he said, “and this one guy headbutted me during a tackle.”
“So I told him, ‘man, do that again and I’m going to beat the shit out of you’. On the next tackle he goes and does it again. So I pumped him,” he added.
‘From there we will both be sent to the changing rooms…’
The situation escalated when both players were taken to the same changing area: “They were sitting right next to each other,” Tafa said. “So we ended up in the same shed for one more time.”
Tafa recalled being escorted off the field with his mother during the away match.
“I remember thinking ‘yeah, sorry mum’,” he said, adding: “And she actually said to me, ‘That’s it, you’re never playing again’. So that was my last ever rugby match.”
Tafa is now competing in the UFC and will fight Billy Elekana this weekend, hoping to continue his rise on one of the sport’s biggest stages.
