LAS VEGAS – If Brad Tavares could share one piece of advice with Jared Cannonier, it’s what he didn’t expect out of Israel Adesanya.
Cannonier (15-5 MMA, 8-5 UFC) challenges middleweight champion Adesanya (22-1 MMA, 11-1 UFC) in Saturday’s UFC 276 main event, and having gone five rounds against “The Stylebender” in 2018, Tavares says he had a hard time landing on Adesanya.
“What surprised me about Israel is actually how long and rangy he was,” Tavares told reporters Wednesday at UFC 276 media day. “It’s one thing to go train with long and tall guys, but Israel is really a master of his length and his range. So he was harder to hit, harder to get to and he was hitting me from where I felt like I would be kind of safe. He would land some things and I was like, ‘Oh, OK – this is different.’ So if I had to tell Jared something, I’d tell him that.”
After dropping two straight to Adesanya and Edmen Shahbazyan, Tavares rebounded with back-to-back wins over 2021 PFL champion Antonio Carlos Junior and Omari Akhmedov. He will look to put a halt to rising contender Dricus Du Plessis’ momentum when the pair square off on Saturday’s prelims at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.
“(Du Plessis is a) tough guy, and I actually think he is different than a lot of the other guys out there,” Tavares said. “His style is a little different. He reminds me kind of like an Elias Theodorou – very unorthodox in the way they do things. So yeah, I think (he’s) very tough, very game, and I think that what he brings to the table is a little different than anybody else.”
UFC 276 takes place Saturday at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas. The main card airs on pay-per-view following prelims on ABC/ESPN and early prelims on ESPN+.
Check out the full media day interview with Tavares in the video above.
Brad Tavares on what Jared Cannonier should be wary of against ‘master’ Israel Adesanya
