Tuco Tokkos heads into his fight with Ivan Erslan in Las Vegas this weekend carrying something he did not have when he first arrived in the UFC: confidence. The 35-year-old light heavyweight said his first win in the promotion, a late-second-round submission of Junior Tafa in Nashville last summer, cleared away the imposter syndrome that shadowed his first two outings.
“It was a great feeling,” Tokkos said after beating Tafa. “It was a big relief because you always have a bit of imposter syndrome when you get to the UFC, so it’s like you can get rid of it after you get that first ‘dub.’” Tokkos had opened his UFC run with losses to Oumar Sy and Navajo Stirling, making the Tafa finish more than just another result on the card. It was proof, at least for him, that he belonged.
That sense of belonging has not come only from the Octagon. Tokkos said he spent time training with Jiří Procházka and traveled to California to help Khamzat Chimaev before UFC 328, part of a stretch in which he has become an ever-present figure around the sport, often seen cornering friends and popping up in training camp photos and videos. He said that work around elite fighters has accelerated his development.
“These are the best guys in the world and when you’re training with them, hanging with them, it does expedite the growth,” Tokkos said. “It’s like, ‘Oh damn — some of my game is at this level.’” For a fighter who admitted he once had “a bit of imposter syndrome” when he got to the UFC, that kind of feedback matters. Tokkos said the first win gave him room to breathe, and the sessions with top names have given him reason to believe the next one can come against Erslan.
He has also leaned into a change that became unexpectedly personal: his hair. Tokkos said he believes he “messed up” his career by keeping a buzz cut and that he should have grown it out years ago. “It’s changed my life,” he said, adding that staff at check-ins recently told him, “You might be the best-looking dude on the roster.” He joked that even the UFC Performance Institute sometimes does a double take, asking whether it is really him when he walks in.
That lighter mood sits alongside a more serious arc. Tokkos lost his first two UFC fights before submitting Tafa late in the second round in Nashville, and now he is trying to turn one strong finish into a run. The timing makes this weekend matter: he is not just trying to win another fight, but to show that the jump he felt in camp, and the confidence he found after his first UFC victory, can hold up in Las Vegas against Erslan. If it does, the story around Tokkos changes from one of recovery to one of arrival.
