Brad Tavares vs. Bubba McDaniel features two alumni of The Ultimate Fighter fighting for a spot in the top of the UFC's middleweight division.

Round 1

Both fighters take the center of the octagon. Tavares opens with an outside leg kick. He lands one on McDaniel's face and a couple on his opponent's legs. McDanel lands a punch and goes for the clinch. He looks to grapple against Tavares but the clinch is broken. Both fighters exchange quick punches.

McDaniel lands punch combinations. But Tavares caches him with a kick. Midway through round one and action is still starting to pick up. McDaniel tries to take down Tavares but ends on the clinch. McDaniel's lead leg seems to redden due to leg kicks from Tavares.

Round one ends. Looks like Tavares has the edge for the first round.

Round 2

Tavares goes back to his kicking game and caches McDaniel with a powerful kick. Combinations landed for Tavares and seem to graze his opponent. Tavares' combinations of punch and kicks are doing great for him. McDaniel is able to take down Tavares but is not able to land meaningful strikes.

Tavares continues to punish McDaniel's lead leg and McDaniel is limping a bit. Both fighters are sizing up each other once again. Tavares takes down McDaniel but the latter was able to reverse the position. Back to stand up position for both fighters. Round two ends in the clinch. It is a pretty close round.

Round 3

Touch gloves and round three starts. McDaniel lands a left hand to his opponent which buckles him. Tavares lands an illegal leg kick and McDaniel is given time to recover. Action continues on the feet. Combinations from McDaniel enable him to take down Tavares. The fight ends up in the half-guard position. McDaniel tries to pass Tavares' guard and Tavares tries to lack a Kimura but finds no success.

Both fighters try to fight for a dominant position in the ground. Round three ends with McDaniel on top. He seems to get this round on judges' scorecards.

Result

Brad Tavares wins via unanimous decision and improves his record to 6-1. His kicks have been a great factor in winning this fight.