Brad Tavares grew to become one of many winningest fighters in UFC middleweight historical past with a dominant displaying in opposition to Gerald Meerschaert at UFC Vegas 105 on Saturday night time.
A giant straight proper hand from Tavares prompted Meerschaert to clinch up in opposition to the fence, nevertheless it didn’t take lengthy for Tavares to separate and get again to the middle of the Octagon. With lower than a minute to go within the first, Tavares landed a pair extra proper fingers.
It wasn’t sufficient to take a seat Meerschaert down on the mat, nevertheless it undoubtedly earned him a 10-9 on the scorecards.
Meerschaert seemed to get his grabbing going within the second stanza, however Tavares’ work within the clinch and important pace benefit saved the struggle on the toes and Tavares simply out of vary of his opponent’s assaults.
Determined to get the struggle on the bottom early, Meerschaert shot in and secured a physique lock in opposition to the fence. Regardless of his finest effort, Meerschaert couldn’t muscle Tavares to the mat, going 0 for 8 on takedown makes an attempt.
With simply over a minute to go, referee Mike Beltran separated the fighters on account of a scarcity of exercise. Meerschaert as soon as once more punched his manner inside and put Tavares’ again in opposition to the fence, however he was unable to perform something of observe. Tavares separated himself with 10 seconds to go within the struggle and was content material to trip out the rest of the spherical, taking us to the scorecards for what needs to be a really apparent unanimous choice.
Official Consequence: Brad Tavares def. Gerald Meerschaert through unanimous choice (29-28, 29-28, 29-28)