Brad Tavares’ UFC career has stretched over numerous eras of the middleweight division.
Tavares’ first introduction to the UFC was through Season 11 of “The Ultimate Fighter” in 2010. Anderson Silva was the UFC middleweight champion at the time, and the belt has since changed hands 11 times – including Israel Adesanya’s reign, which consisted of five title defenses.
But with Silva’s dominance of 10 title defenses across seven years, Tavares (21-10 MMA, 16-10 UFC) finds it hard not to go with “The Spider’s” era as the best. He has a specific reason why.
“It’s hard to say because the fighters have evolved obviously, but I also evolved along with them,” Tavares told MMA Junkie Radio. “So when I first came into the UFC, when I first got there and Anderson Silva was the champion, you look at him, and you’re like, ‘Oh dude!’ And Anderson Silva is one of the MMA all-time, pound-for-pound GOATs to me, and should be to a lot of people.
“So, for me at that time coming in and looking at him, he was so much further than me, and it was a mountain that I strived to get to. So maybe at that point because of where I was in life, and skill wise, age, in my career and all that, and where he was, and how dominant he was, I would say probably that era for me.”
A longtime perennial middleweight contender, Tavares will enter his 27th octagon fight when he takes on Robert Bryczek (17-6 MMA, 0-1 UFC) on Saturday at UFC Fight Night 258 (ESPN+) from Accor Arena in Paris.
