Preview: UFC Fight Night 236 ‘Hermansson vs. Pyfer’

Middleweights

Gregory Rodrigues (14-5, 5-2 UFC) vs. Brad Tavares (20-8, 15-8 UFC)

ODDS: Rodrigues (-245), Tavares (+200)

Rodrigues has been a must-watch fighter during his time with the UFC, but if he is starting to fully channel his talent, he could quickly become a huge problem for the promotion’s middleweight division. “Robocop” has a decorated grappling background, but that has rarely been apparent during the Brazilian’s fights. All else being equal, Rodrigues would much rather march forward and hunt for the knockout. Admittedly, Rodrigues has still been quite effective even as a knockout artist, but his lack of elite defensive vision has made some fights dicier than they need to be. That is fine when he comes out ahead in all-out wars against Jun Yong Park and Chidi Njokuani, but it has come back to bite him in the form of knockout losses to Jordan Williams and Brunno Ferreira. When Rodrigues was matched with Denis Tiuliulin in August, it figured to be another fight where he would take needless risks against an opponent who was only a threat on the feet. That made it a pleasant surprise when Rodrigues quickly took Tiuliulin to the mat and pounded out a stoppage victory in under two minutes. If Rodrigues keeps up that form, he should quickly make a march up the middleweight ladder, so this is about the right time for him to face a perennial divisional gatekeeper in Tavares.

Tavares appears to be slowing down at age 36, but he has mostly been the picture of consistency during his 13 and a half years under the UFC banner, for better or for worse. Tavares toiled in anonymity for the first few years of his UFC career, racking up what would become the first of many decision victories going forward, eventually hitting a ceiling against some fellow prospects, circa 2014 and 2015. In retrospect, losing handily to Yoel Romero and Robert Whittaker is far from a black mark on Tavares’ record. The Hawaiian eventually found a high floor, chugging along with a combination of consistent striking and elite takedown defense to neutralize most opponents while also always falling short against elite athletes who could march forward and blast through him with powerful offense. That looked to be more of a liability than ever during a recent two-fight losing streak—though a loss to Dricus Du Plessis now looks much better than it did at the time. While he turned this around with an August win over Chris Weidman, that performance was a mixed bag. Faced with a clearly diminished late-career form of Weidman, Tavares never put his foot on the gas pedal and even still seemed bothered during the few times where the former champion was able to storm forward and throw out some offense. In a bit of an amusing twist, this is probably a fight where Rodrigues is best served throwing his recent improvements out the window. Tavares seems as vulnerable as ever to pressure striking, and attempting to outwrestle the Hawaiian has typically been a recipe for a clear loss. The bet is that even if Rodrigues goes into this fight planning to wrestle, he will land something with enough fight-changing power to turn things in his favor in the process. The pick is Rodrigues via first-round stoppage.

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Hermansson vs. Pyfer
Ige vs. Fili
Bryczek vs. Potieria
Rodrigues vs. Tavares
Johnson vs. Flowers
Vieira vs. Petrosyan
The Prelims