Brad Tavares vs. Dricus Du Plessis: Height, weight, reach and UFC record comparison
![Dricus Du Plessis (left), Brad Tavares (right) [Image courtesy of @bradtavares808 on Instagram]](https://staticg.sportskeeda.com/editor/2022/06/ce523-16565894812656-1920.jpg?w=500)
Brad Tavares will face relative newcomer Dricus Du Plessis at UFC 276: Adesanya vs. Cannonier. Both fighters stand at 185cm tall. However, Du Plessis has a sizeable reach advantage. The South African has a reach of 193cm, which is much longer than Tavares' reach of 188cm.
They both compete in the middleweight division with Du Plessis weighing 1lbs heavier, as per their last official weigh-ins, at 185.5lbs. 'Stillknocks' has only competed twice in the organization, which gives a huge experience advantage to the 12-year UFC veteran Tavares.
The 28-year-old from Pretoria has won both of his UFC outings, beating Markus Perez and Trevin Giles to go 2-0 in the organization. As mentioned, Brad Tavares is far more experienced in the UFC and has an organizational record of 14 wins and six losses.
Tavares has fought some of the biggest names in the sport, including Israel Adesanya, Robert Whittaker and Yoel Romero. The 34-year-old lost to the current middleweight champion via unanimous decision and gave a good account of himself despite the defeat.
Watch Tavares speak about his upcoming fight below:
Tavares is currently on a great run in the middleweight division, winning his last two UFC bouts. This is his best form since 2018, where he won his fourth fight in a row after beating Krzysztof Jotko at UFC on FOX 29.
Who was the first fighter to beat Brad Tavares in MMA?
Brad Tavares didn't suffer his first MMA defeat until entering the UFC. He lost to Aaron Simpson via decision at UFC 132: Cruz vs Faber 2 in 2011. However, the setback helped the 34-year-old, who went on his best-ever run in the organization after losing to Simpson.
Tavares managed to beat Dongi Yang, Tom Watson, Riki Fukuda, Bubba McDaniel and Lorenz Larkin all via decision. This impressive form earned the Hawaii native his biggest fight at the time, when he faced Yoel Romero at UFC on Fox 11.
Tavares ended up losing to Romero, which is somewhat of a trend when facing the elite in the division. The 34-year-old also has losses to Robert Whittaker and Israel Adesanya. Only Whittaker managed to win via knockout, with the Adesanya bout going the distance.