The opening bout on the UFC Fight Night 27 main card was a middleweight bout as Brad Tavares won his fourth straight fight as he defeated Bubba McDaniel by unanimous decision.
Tavares opened the fight with a left leg kick and followed it up with two more kicks. McDaniel would respond by throwing a left hand and then clinched with Tavares against the fence. Tavares would escape from the clinch and move back to the center of the cage.
Tavares would drop McDaniel with a strike but he elected to not go to the ground and had McDaniel get back on his feet. They would have a stand up battle for the rest of the round with Tavares landing significant strikes with his leg kicks.
As the second round opened, Tavares continued to throw his leg kicks and he would drop McDaniel with a left hand. He would allow McDaniel to stand up and they exchange strikes. The fight would end up on the ground with McDaniel in top position. Tavares was able to get back to his feet and get the fight back to where he wanted it to be. He continued to dominate the action on the feet as McDaniel struggled to land any significant strikes in the middle round.
In the third round, McDaniel landed his biggest strike at the beginning of the round which was a left hand. Tavares clinched with McDaniel to recover and they would eventually break away from each other. After they separated, Tavares landed a shot to the groin and the fight was stopped for a brief moment.
McDaniel would be able to continue and he would be able to take the fight to the ground with a double leg takedown. McDaniel looked for various submissions while on the ground but Tavares would defend all of the attempts and the fight went to the judges scorecards.
All three judges scored the fight for Tavares (11-1) and has won six of his seven fights in the UFC. The defeat for McDaniel (21-7) snaps a seven fight win streak and this is his first defeat since 2010.
UFC Fight Night 27 Results:
Brad Tavares def. Bubba McDaniel via unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 29-28)
Dylan Andrews def. Papy Abedi via TKO (strikes) – Round 3, 1:32
Brandon Thatch def. Justin Edwards via TKO (strikes) – Round 1, 1:23
Darren Elkins def. Hatsu Hioki via unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 29-28)
Jason High def. James Head via submission (guillotine choke) – Round 1, 1:41
Zak Cummings def. Ben Alloway via submission (d’arce choke) – Round 1, 4:19
Roger Bowling vs. Abel Trujillo declared a no contest (unintentional illegal knee) – Round 2, 4:57