This is the UFC Fight Night 27 live blog for Brad Tavares vs. Bubba McDaniel, a middleweight bout at Saturday night's UFC event at Bankers Life Fiendhouse in Indianapolis.
Tavares, who has won four of his last five fights, will face McDaniel, who submitted Gilbert Smith in his UFC debut at the TUF 17 finale, on the main card.
Check out the UFC Fight Night 27 live blog below.
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Round 1: Dan Miragliota is the referee for this middleweight fight. The duo trade single kicks at the start. Tavares' second leg kick clearly registers as McDaniel winces. McDaniel throws a straight right and clinches Tavares. Not much comes of it though. They're back at center Octagon two minutes in. Tavares stuns McDaniel with a strike and drops him to the mat, but Tavares lets him back up. McDaniel goes for a takedown, briefly gets him to the mat on the third effort, but gets right back to his feet. McDaniel's noticeably ginger on his lead leg from Tavares' leg kicks. McDaniel lands a combo, clinches, but Tavares reverses position and bulls him into the fence. 30 seconds left. Tavares lands a couple knees. They break. Tavares lands a body kick. MMAFighting scores the round for Brad Tavares, 10-9.
Round 2: McDaniels rushes in early and gets wobbled backwards with a left hand for his troubles. Tavares lands a crisp counter right to the jaw. Tavares with a body kick, but McDaniel takes him down while Tavares is off-balance (in a replay shown after the round, an accidental headbutt knocked Tavares off-balance). Tavares pulls butterfly guard and manages to get back to his feet. Tavares goes high with a kick and then throws a right uppercut. McDaniel mainly hanging back. They clinch, Tavares scores a trip. McDaniel switches position, Tavares gets back to his feet, but McDnaiel stays on the mat. Miragliota orders them back to their feet late. MMAFighting scores the round for Brad Tavares, 10-9 (20-18 overall).
Round 3: McDaniel rocks Tavares backward with a big left, but Tavares regained their sense while they clinched along the fence. Tavares kicks a field goal of a low blow. Time-out called. McDaniel's ready to go. McDaniel pushes forward, throws a combo, shoots a double and gets the takedown. McDaniel doing his best to move toward a triangle, but Tavares is doing a decent job holding him off. Midway through the round. Tavares tries to roll out and back to his feet, but McDaniel works back to top position. Tavares briefly goes for a triangle, but no dice. One minute left. McDaniel briefly goes for an arm triangle but abandons it. Crowd jeers as time runs out. MMAFighting scores the round for Bubba McDaniel, 10-9 (29-28 overall).
Brad Tavares def. Bubba McDaniel via unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 29-28).