UFC 1 fighter and Hawaiian actor, Taylor Wily, passes away at age 56
UFC 1 fighter and Hawaiian actor, Taylor Wily, has passed away at the age of 56.
Wily was known as Teila Tuli (0-1 MMA) during his one and only fight in UFC 1 back in November of 1993. Tuli vs. Gerard Gordeau (2-2 MMA) was the first fight to be broadcast in UFC history. The result was Tuli being knocked out by a head kick 26 seconds into the first round, making it the first KO in the promotion‘s history as well.
Prior to UFC 1, Wily had success as a sumo wrestler.
Following his very short career in MMA, Taylor Wily went on to become an actor, landing a breakout role as ‘Kemo’ alongside Jason Segel and Mila Kunis in the romantic hit comedy ‘Forgetting Sarah Marshall’.
Wily went on to get the part of criminal informant Kamekona Tupuola on ‘Hawaii Five-O’ appearing in 17o episodes. The teddy-bear Hawaiian also appeared in ‘Macgyver’ and ‘Magnum P.I.’.
‘Hawaii Five-0’ executive producer Peter M. Lenkov took to ‘Instagram‘ with the following tribute:
View this post on Instagram
“I am devastated. Heartbroken. I’ll post some detailed feelings later. Just too hard right now. T, as I told you many times, I fell in love with you at the first audition. 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.”
When the UFC celebrated it’s 30th anniversary this past November, Wily was on hand to help commemorate the event.
Taylor is survived by his wife and their two children.
Do you have a favorite memory of Taylor Wily aka Teila Tuli?
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