NEW YORK – When Brad Tavares steps into the cage on Saturday night, it will mark his first fight in 15 months.
Hawaii’s Tavares (17-5 MMA, 12-5 UFC) takes on undefeated up-and-coming middleweight Edmen Shahbazyan (10-0 MMA, 3-0 UFC) at UFC 244 at Madison Square Garden.
In his most recent outing, in July 2018, Tavares headlined The Ultimate Fighter 27 Finale against Israel Adesanya. While he went all five rounds with “The Last Style Bender,” Tavares lost a unanimous decision and suffered a broken foot which, let to numerous complications.
While Tavares was rehabbed his injury, Adesanya decisioned contender Derek Brunson, defeated all-time great Anderson Silva, came out on top of a “Fight of the Year” candidate against Kelvin Gastelum to win the interim title, and knocked out then-champion Robert Whittaker in under two rounds to unify the belts at UFC 243.
The success of the City Kickboxing star Adesanya may have surprised a lot of people, but Tavares isn’t one. Tavares knew Adesanya was talented and now his belief has been vindicated.
“I knew he was good coming into the fight,” Tavares told MMA Junkie on Wednesday. “I just look at it like, what is hard for me is that I got injured. I wasn’t able to get right back to the gym and work on things I wanted to work on from that fight. That kind of was irritating like, ‘Man, I want to be able to fix these things.'”
Is Tavares interested in a rematch with Adesanya down the line? You bet. Things could go differently if they fought a second time, according to Tavares.
“Israel is somebody (who), don’t get me wrong, is a great fighter,” Tavares said. “He beat me that night, but I know he’s a guy that I can beat. I know one day sooner (rather) than later we’ll meet again and we can run it back.”
For that reason, Tavares is more motivated to resume his climb towards championship gold. On Saturday night, Tavares said he not only wants to make a statement in his return – he needs to do so in order to stay afloat in the minds of casual viewers.
“I want to go out there and make a statement,” Tavares said. “I’ve been away so long. I feel like the fighters in my division know exactly who I am. The hardcore goes know who I am.
“But for the casual fan, I’ve been away so long they might not really know. I want to go out there and make a statement. With that statement, ‘Remember the name.’ And just keep climbing and get to my goal: rematching Adesanya if he’s still champion at the time.”
UFC 244 takes place Saturday at Madison Square Garden in New York. The main card airs on pay-per-view following prelims on ESPN2 and ESPN2/ESPN+/UFC Fight Pass.
