Israel Adesanya isn’t expecting Brad Tavares to give him a great deal of trouble.
Adesanya and Tavares will do battle on “The Ultimate Fighter” 27 finale. This bout will serve as the headliner on July 6. That’s one night before the big UFC 226 pay-per-view featuring a heavyweight title bout between champion Stipe Miocic and Daniel Cormier. Adesanya vs. Tavares is part of “International Fight Week.”
Adesanya isn’t one to lack in the confidence department. The former professional kickboxer has gone 13-0 in his mixed martial arts career. He’s earned 12 of those victories by way of knockout.
During an edition of MMAFighting.com‘s “The MMA Hour,” “The Last Stylebender” said Tavares won’t be a difficult match-up:
“Brad, I think is gonna be easier than my last opponent, just because I’ve seen that style so many times. I’ve read that stuff so many times. That’s nothing to me. My last opponent, Marvin Vettori, was an awkward, weird southpaw and I was able to read things on the fly with him. Brad, I’ve seen that style many, many times, so it’s going to be easier to read this book.”
Tavares is riding a four-fight winning streak. In that span he’s beaten Caio Magalhaes, Elias Theodoru, Thales Leites, and Krzysztof Jotko. His last defeat was at the hands of current UFC middleweight champion Robert Whittaker back in May 2015.
TUF 27 Finale will feature another middleweight clash between Alessio Di Chirico and Julian Marquez. Di Chirico is coming off a knockout over Oluwale Bamgbose, while Marquez earned a UFC contract through Dana White’s Tuesday Night Contender Series. Women’s flyweights Roxanne Modafferi and Barb Honchak are also set to collide as well as Montana De La Rosa and Rachael Ostovich. Featherweight action is also on tap as Alex Caceres will meet Martin Bravo.
Do you believe Israel Adesanya is biting off more than he can chew?
