Australian heavyweight Tai Tuivasa left jaws on the floor at UFC 271 on Saturday night – including Dana White’s. Tuivasa, 28, returned to the cage in the card’s co-main event, taking on American knockout artist Derrick Lewis. Despite entering the Octagon as a slight underdog, the Australian picked up a career-changing knockout victory in the second round, levelling his hulking foe with an elbow to the head. “Awesome fight,” White, the UFC President, told the media after UFC 271. “That’s another [fight], you knew those two were going to get in there and once they loosened up and started letting them go it was going to be an interesting night.” Bam Bam slept Derrick Lewis😴 #UFC271 STREAM #UFC271 NOW ➡️ https://t.co/8nSLNkbqlT pic.twitter.com/8Q2uxpX9BU — ESPN MMA (@espnmma) February 13, 2022 “[Tuivasa has] got a good chin,” White added. “I knew those two were going to bang it out and somebody was going to get caught with something. The elbows looked good. He did take some big shots. Tonight was his night man, he looked good.” Before UFC 271, Tuivasa (15-3) was ranked No 11 in the UFC heavyweight division, while Lewis (26-9) was perched at No 3. White isn’t sure where Tuivasa will land when the rankings are updated, but expects him to settle somewhere in Lewis’ vicinity in the top five. “He should be top three, top five,” White said. “Wherever he shakes out in the rankings, he’ll be mixing it up with those guys.” Tuivasa has now won five consecutive fights, and is seemingly right on the cusp of title contention. But with reigning UFC heavyweight champion Francis Ngannou tied up with a contract dispute, the division’s future is murky. White did not provide any clarity on the status of the heavyweight champion after UFC 271, nor did he update on former champion Stipe Miocic, or former light heavyweight king Jon Jones, who is plotting a move up to the division. However, he suggested that Tuivasa is likely to be rubbing shoulders with all three men soon. “We’ll see pretty soon how this all plays out – Jones, Stipe, Francis, and Tai now too,” White said. Tuivasa wasn’t the only fighter to burst into title contention on the UFC 271 main card. Earlier on the broadcast, American star Jared Cannonier set himself up for a shot at Israel Adesanya and the middleweight title with a second-round knockout win over Derek Brunson. Cannonier (15-5) demanded a crack at the champion in his post-fight interview with commentator Daniel Cormier, and White does not seem to have any objections to that idea. “I was excited to see that fight, to see how it was going to play out,” he said. “It was an awesome fight and yeah, I’m not going to say no to Cannonier.”