Junior Tafa (6-4, 6) was born in Avondale, Auckland, New Zealand on September 21, 1996. At the age of 25 years on July 9, 2022, he made his professional MMA debut against Taisei Sekino, winning the fight via 1st-round TKO.
On April 22, 2023, 26-year old Junior Tafa made his UFC debut on his 5th professional MMA fight at UFC Fight Night: Pavlovich vs. Blaydes against Mohammed Usman but lost the fight via unanimous decision.
Tafa's last fight was a 2nd-round submission loss to Tuco Tokkos at UFC on ESPN: Lewis vs. Teixeira at age 28 on July 12, 2025. He is on a 1-fight losing streak.
He has fought six times in the UFC, and has a record of 2 wins and 4 losses in the promotion.
Some of Junior Tafa's best fights have been against Parker Porter, Sean Sharaf and Tsuyoshi Sudario.
Tafa has 4 losses on his MMA record.
| # | Date | Opponent | Promotion | Weight | Round | Method | Result |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
10 | Jul 12, 2025 28 years, 9 months 6-4 (6) | Tuco Tokkos | UFC | LHW | 2 | SUB | LOSS Arm-triangle choke |
9 | Oct 12, 2024 28 years 6-3 (6) | Sean Sharaf | UFC | HW | 2 | TKO | WIN Punches |
8 | Aug 18, 2024 27 years, 10 months 5-3 (5) | Valter Walker | UFC | HW | 1 | SUB | LOSS Heel hook |
7  | Feb 17, 2024 27 years, 4 months 5-2 (5) | 38 years, 8 months 21-9-1 (17) | UFC | HW | 2 | TKO | LOSS Leg kick and punches |
6  | Aug 26, 2023 26 years, 11 months 5-1 (5) | 38 years, 4 months 14-8 (9) | UFC | HW | 1 | KO | WIN Punch |
5 | Apr 22, 2023 26 years, 7 months 4-1 (4) | Mohammed Usman | UFC | HW | 3 | UD | LOSS |
4 | Dec 31, 2022 26 years, 3 months 4-0 (4) | Tsuyoshi Sudario | Rizin | HW | 1 | TKO | WIN Punches |
3 | Nov 26, 2022 26 years, 2 months 3-0 (3) | Nicolas Djurdjević | Brave | HW | 1 | TKO | WIN Punches |
2 | Aug 5, 2022 25 years, 10 months 2-0 (2) | Kelvin Fitial | HW | 2 | KO | WIN Punches | |
1 | Jul 9, 2022 25 years, 9 months 1-0 (1) | Taisei Sekino | LHW | 1 | TKO | WIN Punches |
