Products You May Like
“In that first round, I completely dominated the fight everywhere,” Tavares said regarding his bout against Dricus Du Plessis at UFC 276. “Going into that second round, I thought I knew how the fight was going to go. But he came out there, was able to land some shots that really changed the fight for me.
“He opened a cut on my eye that really messed up my vision and he eventually caught me with a knee that broke my nose and messed up my breathing for the whole rest of the fight. He did what he had to do in that fight, but [it’s] definitely a fight that I know I can beat him should we ever run it back.”
Du Plessis surged to an eventual unanimous decision victory in a fight in which Tavares knew he should’ve had the upper hand. That uneasy feeling of losing a bout in that manner hasn’t left Tavares’ mind since that summer night. It’s been the center of his inspiration as he approaches his next challenge at UFC 283: Teixeira vs Hill.
“Anytime you get a loss, it fires me up a little more,” Tavares said. “It makes you a little hungrier. When you win it feels great and there’s things you can improve on from there, but there’s nothing like taking a loss…I hate losing.”