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“I gained a case of Spam and a few rice, and that was it, I used to be into sumo,” Mr. Wily mentioned in a 2016 interview with Sherdog, a YouTube channel devoted to the Ultimate Fighting Championship.
In the identical interview, Mr. Wily additionally mentioned why he was billed as Teila Tuli for his U.F.C. match. “They didn’t need me to come back with such an English identify,” he mentioned. “So I took Taylor and spelled it the best way we spell it right here in Polynesia, Teila, and used my center identify, Tuli, and removed Wily.”
He added, smiling, that he hoped the admission wouldn’t ship invoice collectors his method.
For two years, he competed in Japan as a sumo wrestler below the identify Takamishu. He gained a number of championships, finally reaching the makushita division, the third-highest within the league, and he grew to become the primary wrestler born exterior Japan to win a title match.
He left the game in 1989, citing knee accidents, and pivoted to combined martial arts. Mr. Wily fought within the first Ultimate Fighting Championship, in 1993, the place he misplaced by a technical knockout.
He first appeared on tv in a 1982 episode of “Magnum, P.I.,” and he made a number of visitor appearances on exhibits that included “Marker” and “North Shore.”
His survivors embrace his spouse, Halona Wily, and two kids.
In a 2014 interview with Hawaii News Now, Mr. Wily mentioned his appreciation for his function on “Hawaii Five-0,” and what the expertise meant to him.
“It’s the perfect job on the earth — you get to play Hollywood however be proper right here in Hawaii,” he mentioned. “Home.”
