After two victories inside the UFC’s Octagon, kickboxing transplant Israel Adesanya has been booked for his first main event battle. “The Last Stylebender” will collide with Hawaii’s Brad Tavares in the headliner of The Ultimate Fighter 27 Finale in Las Vegas, Nevada on July 6.
Brad Tavares (@BradTavares) vs. Israel Adesanya (@stylebender) set for TUF 27 Finale in Las Vegas #UFC pic.twitter.com/gakShTbjiq
— Nolan King (@mma_kings) April 30, 2018
Adesanya’s first Octagon victory occurred in February, when he knocked out the durable Rob Wilkinson in the second round of a UFC 221 undercard scrap. This victory earned the Nigerian-born Kiwi Performance of the Night honors. His next Octagon win occurred earlier this month, on the main card of the UFC’s exciting stop in Glendale, Arizona, when he defeated ever-improving Italian Marvin Vettori with a competitive but impressive decision victory. This was the first decision on Adesanya’s flawless MMA record, which currently sits at 13-0.
Tavares, who is a veteran of The Ultimate Fighter season 11, also picked up his last win earlier this month Glendale, where he defeated Polish talent Krzysztof Jotko via third-round TKO. With this win, Tavares extended his current win-streak to four, as he’s also recently bested Thales Leites, Elias Theodorou and Caio Magalhães, all by decision. The Hawaiian star is currently a strong 17-4 overall.
After his win in Glendale, Tavares briefly angled for a fight with former UFC middleweight champion Michael Bisping, but was promptly shut-down by the Brit. This fight with Adesanya, one of the most hyped prospects on the UFC roster, is bound to serve as a nice consolation prize.
At present, only three other bouts have been confirmed for this TUF 27 Finale card: a middleweight bout between Alessio Di Chirico and Julian Marquez a women’s flyweight bout between Roxanne Modafferi and Barb Honchak, and another women’s flyweight scrap between Montana De La Rosa and Rachel Ostovich.
Who do you think will come out on top in the Israel Adesanya vs. Brad Tavares TUF 27 Finale main event?
This article first appeared on BJPenn.com On 4/30/2018.