Brad Tavares and Antonio Carlos Junior will face off at UFC Brasilia with both men looking to get back in the win column.
A middleweight clash has been added to March’s UFC Brasila card. On Monday, Combate was first to report that Antonio Carlos Junior and Brad Tavares will square off at the Fight Night event. The show, which takes place March 14, 2020 at Ginasio Nilson Nelson in Brasilia, Brazil, is expected to stream on ESPN+.
Tavares (17-6), a Hawaiian veteran with the UFC since 2010, will look to avoid a career-first three-fight losing streak at UFC Brasilia. In his past two bouts, Tavares has fallen to Israel Adesanya and Edmen Shahbazyan, the latter by head kick knockout at UFC 244 last month.
Prior to those defeats, Tavares had put together a tidy four-fight win streak, including names like Elias Theodorou and Thales Leites.
From 2016 to 2018, Brazil’s Antonio Carlos Junior (10-4, 1NC) quietly built up an impressive five-fight win streak of his own. Submissions in four of those wins had him receive a step up in competition, against Ian Heinisch and Uriah Hall. However, Carlos Junior would lose both those fights, putting himself in a similar position as Tavares.
‘Shoe Face’ originally won The Ultimate Fighter Brazil 3 to earn his spot in the UFC — at heavyweight. After a single light heavyweight bout, he dropped to 185lbs, where he has remained ever since.
