Only one of these two Ultimate Fighting Championship middleweights
will have a number next to their name when the dust settles.
On Wednesday, Brazilian outlet Super
Lutas reported that the Jan. 21 pay-per-view offering in Rio de
Janeiro had its first big fight lined up. In the middleweight
category, Brad
Tavares (19-7) will square off against rising talent Gregory
Rodrigues (13-4) at UFC 283.
In addition to other outlets, Rodrigues has confirmed this matchup
on his
Instagram on Thursday. While there is no headliner on the
billing as of yet, another scrap at 145 pounds was also
announced earlier this week and
confirmed by one of its competitors on Thursday, at 145 pounds
between Josiane
Nunes and Zarah
Fairn dos Santos.
While he is ranked among the top 15, Tavares has won three and lost
three dating back to 2018. Most recently, the Hawaiian fell short
to Dricus Du
Plessis in a thrilling three-round affair. That defeat put an
end to a short win streak amassed in 2021 to future Professional Fighters League talents Antonio
Carlos Jr. and Omari
Akhmedov. Of note, both of his wins over those two fighters
were their last respective appearances in the UFC. Tavares is tied
for the second-most wins in UFC middleweight history (14) along
with Anderson
Silva and Derek
Brunson, while he holds the top spot for the most decision
victories (12).
Since making his promotional debut in June 2021, “Robocop”
Rodrigues has already performed more finishes than his opponent has
in Tavares’ over 12-year stint with the UFC. He has scored three
knockouts over Jun Yong
Park, Julian
Marquez and Chidi
Njokuani, the latest of which coming in September in a
blood-and-guts performance that saw his glabella – the place
between the eyebrows and above the nose – sliced wide open in one
of the most visceral cuts in recent memory. The Brazilian
celebrates a finish rate of 85%, which stands far higher than his
foe’s of 37%.