Preview: UFC Fight Night 222 ‘Pavlovich vs. Blaydes’

Middleweights

Brad Tavares (19-7, 14-7 UFC) vs. Bruno Silva (22-8, 3-2 UFC)

ODDS: Tavares (-155), Silva (+135)

Tavares just keeps chugging along. He has been with the UFC since 2010 and had over 20 fights under the promotion’s banner, and almost all of it has come under the radar. The Hawaiian’s style has not done him many favors, as he is well-rounded and unadventurous to a fault, but Tavares’ mastery of the basics has been able to neutralize a lot of the specialists and flawed athletes at 185 pounds. That does make things frustrating whenever Tavares is unable to get over the hump, however. His loss to Dricus Du Plessis in July has aged well in hindsight but still looks like a missed opportunity where Tavares was unable to come out of his shell and take advantage of the South African’s many defensive shortcomings. Tavares looks for a rebound here against Silva, who badly needs to regain his momentum after a disappointing 2022 campaign.

Silva got served a two-year suspension for a drug test failure almost immediately upon signing with the UFC in 2019, but he made up for lost time when he was cleared to compete in the back half of 2021, racking up three brutal knockouts to head into 2022 as a talent to watch. Silva was at least impressively able to hang with Alex Pereira for three rounds in a decision loss to kick off the year, but a terrible showing against Gerald Meerschaert was quite damaging for “Blindado.” Silva seemed tired and out of the fight after Meerschaert found some wrestling success in the first round, leading Silva to crumble ahead of a third-round submission defeat. Silva is mostly a defense-optional slugger, so there are a lot of potential holes that Tavares figures to exploit over the course of this fight, which could be enough for the Hawaiian to get another decision win. However, even if he can get Silva to consent to his type of slow-paced fight, the Brazilian still figures to land the bigger moments of offense unless Tavares can entirely throw him off his game. Tavares just does not seem to have the type of aggression—or willingness to switch things up with wrestling—that can get Silva to fully unravel, so the bet is that the former M-1 Global champion winds up doing slightly more in a fairly even striking match. The pick is Silva via decision.

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Pavlovich vs. Blaydes
Tavares vs. Silva
Green vs. Gordon
Lucindo vs. Walker
Wells vs. Semelsberger
The Prelims