Brad Tavares caught some bad breaks during Season 11 of "The Ultimate Fighter," but his luck is turning.
In his first "name" UFC fight, he got Phil Baroni, who was on his last legs. Tavares blasted out Baroni in the first round and got premium exposure on ION. Then less than a month ago, the promotion called him with an opportunity to fight another middleweight veteran in Aaron Simpson. Simpson's original opponent, Jason Miller was moved into a coaching on TUF and the 23-year-old Tavares jumped at the opportunity to replace him at UFC 132.
"I know that he possesses that real high pedigree in wrestling," Tavares said of Simpson, who first wrestled for Arizona State and then served as a coach for the Wildcats. "He trains with [Ryan] Bader and [C.B.] Dolloway, and all those other really good wrestlers. So that's something been working, takedown defense and sweeps, and getting back up, and keeping it on the feet."
Tavares' confidence is sky high. He made the decision a few years ago to leave his native Hawaii to train in Las Vegas, first with Shawn Tompkins and now with Xtreme Couture, where he works his striking with Ray Sefo and wrestling with Neil Melanson. He also drives a short way to work his jiu-jitsu game with Robert Drysdale.
"Hawaii's expensive. Everybody can't train twice a day, three times a day like you can out here," Tavares told RawVegas.tv while speaking in the bowels of Las Vegas' MGM Grand. "[Back in Hawaii] they need to work a full-time job and then after that they need to find the time to train."
When fighters do they train in Hawaii, they just can't find the same level of coaching and training partners present in a place like Las Vegas.
Tavares (7-0, 2-0 UFC) was going tit for tat with Court McGee during the TUF 11 semifinals when he was rocked and finished in the final 20 seconds of the fight. McGee went on to win the TUF 11 Finale and that six-figure contract. The Hawaiian would love a rematch with McGee, but first comes the 36-year-old Simpson (8-2, 4-2 UFC). The older Simpson is a minus-250 favorite.
You can watch UFC 132 right here on Yahoo! Sports
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