ABU DHABI – Tai Tuivasa made some recent changes in hopes of snapping his recent losing skid.

Tuivasa (10-3 MMA, 3-3 UFC) faces Stefan Struve on Saturday’s UFC 254 pay-per-view event at Flash Forum, where he’ll look to rebound from three losses in a row.

After a 3-0 start to his UFC tenure, undefeated Tuivasa suffered his first career blemish when he was stopped by Junior Dos Santos in December 2018. That was followed by two more losses to Blagoy Ivanov and Serghei Spivac in 2019.

It’s been a year since Tuivasa last competed, but he utilized that time to travel to the other side of the world to get new looks. He recently spent some time at American Kickboxing Academy in San Jose, Calif., training under the tutelage of head coach Javier Mendez, former UFC dual champion Daniel Cormier and former UFC heavyweight champ Cain Velasquez, which was pivotal for him at this stage of his career.

“It was a bit of a wake-up call,” Tuivasa said in a UFC 254 pre-fight scrum. “Like kind of shows you where you’re at in terms of – my fighting is good, I’m a good fighter, but when it comes to MMA, I kind of had to, and I’m an honest fellow. Being in Australia you might be in a room with three killers or one killer.

“Walking in a row with one hundred of them opens your eyes and gives you a benchmark of where you’re at. But to be welcomed as I did at AKA by DC and by Javier (Mendez) and by the boys, I couldn’t ask for anything better.”

A prolific finisher, Tuivasa is in the process of trying to tame his style but also wants to maintain his finishing instincts.

“I think over my time in the UFC, I think I’ve learned don’t be the young bull and try to get it all at once, so I think I’m ready for a three-round fight, not just physically but mentally,” Tuivasa said. “I think before I wasn’t really mentally thinking like that, you know what I mean? So I’m definitely ready to fight three fives, but you know me, once we’re in there and if I see the opening, I’m gonna definitely be going for it.”