“I received 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 Final Preventing 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 way in which 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 2 years, he competed in Japan as a sumo wrestler beneath the identify Takamishu. He received a number of championships, finally reaching the makushita division, the third-highest within the league, and he turned 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 Final Preventing 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 reveals that included “Marker” and “North Shore.”
His survivors embrace his spouse, Halona Wily, and two youngsters.
In a 2014 interview with Hawaii Information Now, Mr. Wily mentioned his appreciation for his function in “Hawaii 5-0,” and what the expertise meant to him.
“It’s the most effective job on the planet — you get to play Hollywood however be proper right here in Hawaii,” he mentioned. “Residence.”
