UFC 1 fighter Teila Tuli dies at 56

Teila Tuli, who competed in the first ever televised bout at UFC 1 in 1993, has died at the age of 56.

The one-time cagefighter’s death was first reported by local Hawaii TV outlet KITV and later confirmed by Hawaii Five-O producer Peter M. Lenkov. Tuli—who changed his name to Taylor Wily when he became an actor—was a featured actor on the CBS program and Lenkov paid tribute to his friend in a social media post.

“T, as I told you many times, I fell in love with you at the first audition,” Lenkov wrote. “You came in with a towel on your head mopping up sweat, and I was smitten. You charmed me into making you a regular… on the show… and in my life. You were family. And I will miss you every day, brother.

“PS: when we spoke last week, we laughed at how right you were from Day 1. Five-0 was our dream job. And I was so lucky we got to share that magic together.”

Tuli also starred in the film Forgetting Sarah Marshall and later scored a prominent role on the Hawaii Five-O reboot.

While he’s best known now for his acting work, Tuli was one of the 10 fighters who competed on the first-ever UFC card in Denver back in 1993. The show was built around the concept of pitting different martial arts styles against each other, so Tuli joined the promotion after a career competing in sumo where he amassed a 57-27-14 record overall.

He eventually moved on to compete in New Japan Pro Wrestling, but continued training in martial arts, which led to his invitation to fight on the first ever UFC show.

Tuli’s bout lasted just 26 seconds after he suffered a head kick knockout from Gerard Gordeau in the first ever UFC fight in televised history (an alternate bout took place prior to this one but was not shown during the broadcast).

That was the only time Tuli ever competed in mixed martial arts.

After changing his professional name, he eventually got into acting with his first prominent role coming in the comedy Forgetting Sarah Marshall where he played a hotel worker who befriends the lead character played by Jason Segel. He later appeared in 171 episodes of Hawaii Five-O, which ended its run in 2020.

Tuli is survived by his wife and two children.