UFC light-heavyweight Tyson Pedro is writing an exclusive weekly column in the lead-up to his fight with Ovince Saint-Preux at UFC Singapore on June 23.
I get asked about my tattoos all the time. Everywhere I go.
All my tatts mean something — every single one of them — so even the bad ones, I don’t regret them, because they’ve got a story behind them.
There are even some that my friends have done. I’ve got “BHS” which stands for Blacktown Hit Squad and is for my very first fight in amateur boxing.
I’ve got a few drunken tattoos as well. I’ve got “odds against me” and “I can’t break me” on my wrists. They’re sayings that I use to get me through every day in training.
They’re shortened versions of some of the mottos and mantras I use.
I got my first when I was 16. It’s some writing across my shoulder, saying "o lo’u toa tama," which means “my father is a warrior.”
My left side is Japanese, just because of martial arts, which is the same as my dad. The right side is the Samoan side.
I’ve got my cousin — he passed away in Afghanistan — so I’ve got three images of him. I’ve also got the names of all my family down my back on my right side, and a tattoo of my wedding ring on my finger.
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On my right arm, I got the full sleeve done when I was 18. The sleeve is just what we call the tatau, but then I’ve got the legs as well, which is the pe’a.
It’s probably one of the highest honours in Samoan culture and I got it done with my dad.
Sometimes it’s frowned upon, because I don’t speak the language. You’re supposed to be able to speak the language to get it.
But dad doesn’t really speak it either anymore. He used to be able to, but when he moved with his parents to Oceanside in California, it was really racist – they were one of the first brown families in that area – and his mum didn’t let any of the kids speak it.
It’s sad, but the language just dropped off through the generations.
It was shunned out.
That’s part of my job now, and I’ve been contacting groups and trying to learn it again. It’s a big thing for me.
That’s part of the reason I got it done. That, and to do it with my dad. It was an honour to do it with him, and that’s why it meant so much.
When you get it done, you do it with a partner — you split the pain between you when you do it together. It’s hard to explain, but when I was getting it done – they were doing my knees, which is one of the hardest parts — and I just remember when my dad touched my leg, I just bawled my eyes out.
I’m not sure why, and like I said, it’s hard to explain. You just get a feeling, and there’s a lot of superstitions around it.
Most people get it done in two weeks or less, but I took my time and was training a lot as well. I broke my leg really badly playing rugby. It was a bad break and I had a couple of bad surgeries as well. Then, three months after mine healed, dad broke the same leg, the same bone, in the same place. It was crazy. He was sparring, and someone kicked him. He broke the fibia, on the outside — exactly the same as mine. He ended up using my moonboot. I gave it to him straight after.
So, when people say something to me about wearing the tattoo when I don’t speak the language, when they get annoyed that I don’t speak it, it pisses me off.
You don’t know why I got the tattoo.
The background and the culture, I’m still learning it, but that’s part of the reason I got it. I’m in this position — especially being in the UFC — to represent our culture. It’s important to have someone representing our culture, and that’s what it’s all about. That’s what I’m doing. Representing.
Especially after what happened to dad’s family. I’m trying to jump back in. I’m learning about it and trying to bring it back to my family after it was forced out of his.
I understand what happened at the time he was growing up — everyone was just trying to fit in — but now we understand where we’re at and how important our culture and history is.
People still do get angry at me for having it, but the only ones who say it don’t actually have the tattoo. Every single person that has it – even though I don’t speak the language — they’ve always shown me respect.
They understand that I’ve gone through the pain, they know what happened.
Those are the only people I care about. If you show me respect, I’ll respect you, too.