A long time UFC veteran is gone.
Brad Tavares was one fight away from getting the most wins in UFC middleweight history as he was fresh off a victory over Gerald Meerschaert back in April. However, this isn’t a case of Dana White releasing the veteran. It just appears that White had no interest in retaining his services as Tavares' contract ran out of fights and he was officially removed from the roster on Saturday.
Tavares has yet to respond to his UFC departure.
The 37-year-old got his start in the UFC thanks to the Ultimate Fighter in 2011. He ultimately lost in the semi-finals to Court McGee. Though he didn’t win the overall competition, he was eventually signed to a UFC deal and his first four years in the company saw him only lose one fight to Aaron Sampson at UFC 132. However, the more Tavares moved up the card then the middleweight's loss record started going up.
Tavares fought former middleweight champions Robert Whittaker, Israel Adesanya, and even current champ Dricus du Plessis, but he came up short in each match. Despite Tavares never earning a title shot throughout his career, he was never in a deep slump as his longest losing streak was two-fights and he produced several great bouts in his storied career.
So why did Dana White release him despite Tavares coming off of a win?
The UFC CEO has yet to give an official statement on the matter, but it’s quite possible that Dana felt that Taraves was never going to be championship material and opted to cut his losses. Add in that Tavares’ prime years are over and the UFC veteran’s spot on the roster was always in jeopardy. Again, this is pure speculation as Dana White has never come out and stated this nor has there been any rumors on why the UFC opted to not re-sign Tavares.
It’s always possible that he’ll make a return down the line, but as of now, Brad Tavares is a former UFC fighter. We wish Brad Tavares the best in his future endeavors as he genuinely seemed like a good person outside of the octagon. The former UFC star leaves the promotion with a record of 21 wins and 10 losses. It’s always possible that Tavares ends up in PFL or Bare Knuckle Fighting, but there’s no word on if he’s exploring such an option.