Brad Tavares

Overview

Twenty-eight UFC fights, 16 wins, and 14 of those wins came on the scorecards. Brad Tavares is a Middleweight out of Xtreme Couture in Las Vegas who debuted in June 2010, and the career is defined by one pattern: his wins go the distance and his losses often don't.

Six of his 12 UFC losses came by KO/TKO and six by decision. Only two of his 16 wins ended before the final bell. That is the profile of a fighter who wins rounds without ending fights, and who gets hurt when someone finds the finish first.

He has no champion status and no title fight in our data. What he does have is longevity, with a five-fight win streak as his best run.

UFC Career

The start was clean. Tavares beat Seth Baczynski on a Ultimate Fighter finale card in June 2010, then stopped Phil Baroni in the first round at 4:20 of UFC 125. That is one of only two finishes he has as a winner, and the only one in the first round.

The best stretch came from September 2012 through January 2014: five straight wins, all by decision, over Tom Watson, Riki Fukuda, Robert McDaniel, Lorenz Larkin and Dongi Yang in the run-up. The run ended against Yoel Romero, a unanimous decision loss to an opponent our model rates as strong.

Then the knockouts started to show up. Tim Boetsch stopped him in the second round in 2014, and Robert Whittaker needed just 44 seconds in 2015. Tavares kept rebuilding, though. Wins over Elias Theodorou and Thales Leites in 2017, both strong opponents by our model, set up a third-round TKO of Krzysztof Jotko in April 2018, his only late finish.

He went five rounds with Israel Adesanya in July 2018 and lost a unanimous decision. Later wins over Omari Akhmedov and Chris Weidman came against strong opposition too.

The recent run is rougher. He has lost to Dricus Du Plessis, Bruno Silva, Gregory Rodrigues, JunYong Park, Robert Bryczek and Eryk Anders, with a win over Gerald Meerschaert in April 2025 the lone exception. He carries a two-fight losing streak into his next bout.

Winning on the scorecards has been his game for sixteen years.

Fighting Style

Tavares is a hard man to take down and a hard man to hit. He stays upright against wrestlers and absorbs fewer strikes per minute than most. His output and accuracy are close to average, so he is no volume striker, just efficient.

He rarely looks for grappling of his own. He seldom shoots for takedowns and rarely hunts for submissions, and he has no submission wins. This is a striker's game built around staying on his feet.

The finish record tells the rest. Two stoppage wins in 16 means he leans on the judges, with 14 of his wins going the distance. When a fight does end early, it has usually been against him: six of his losses are knockouts.

Notable Wins

• Phil Baroni — KO/TKO, round 1, UFC 125 (2010)
• Krzysztof Jotko — KO/TKO, round 3, UFC Fight Night: Poirier vs. Gaethje (2018)
• Thales Leites — unanimous decision, UFC 216 (2017)
• Chris Weidman — unanimous decision, UFC 292 (2023)

Quick Facts

• Division: Middleweight
• UFC record: 16-12
• Professional record (all promotions): 21-13-0
• UFC debut: 2010
• Stance: Orthodox
• Height / reach: 6'1" / 74"
• Team: Xtreme Couture, Las Vegas, NV
• Born: Hawaii, United States