A middleweight showdown between #10 ranked Brad Tavares (17-4 MMA, 12-4 UFC) and highly regarded prospect Israel ‘The Last Stylebender’ Adesanya (13-0 MMA, 2-0 UFC) is set for TUF 27 Finale on July 6 as a part of International Fight week.
This would be Adesanya’s first shot at ranked opponent. Rightly deserved so after a decent two-fight win streak. Adesanya came in with a lot of hype after being undefeated and all his victories being finishes. Fellow middleweight Marvin Vettori became the first fighter to take Adesanya to the distance, however lost a razor thin split decision against him at UFC on Fox 29. (via Twitter):
Get your popcorn ready 🍿👀@BradTavares takes on @Stylebender in the #TUF27 Finale main event on July 6!
🎟 ➡️ https://t.co/H6yO6ysctj pic.twitter.com/pcae5X30yV
— UFC (@ufc) April 30, 2018
After his victory Adesanya wasted no time in calling out Tavares who fought on the same card. (via YouTube):
Tavares on the other hand is not new to the TUF environment as he was a semi-finalist of TUF season 11. He then made his debut on the finale card against fellow participant Seth Baczynski. He won the fight via unanimous decision. Tavares then stacked up 12 victories and is on a four-fight win streak. Tavares last fought on the same card as Adesanya, he defeated Polish prospect Krzysztof Jotko via third round TKO. Tavares expressed his desire to fight former UFC middleweight champion Michael Bisping and also confronted him which led to a confrontation. (via YouTube):
https://youtu.be/xczAhBFRl2w
Tavares on an edition of Ariel Helwani’s The MMA hour, Tavares had some words about Adesanya calling him about.
“Honestly, I don’t think the kid Israel deserves a fight with me,” Tavares said. “But if that’s what the UFC wants and they’re gonna pay me, I don’t care who it is standing across from me. I’ll smash him.”
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