UFC Fight Night 27 results: Brad Tavares tops Bubba McDaniel for fourth straight

INDIANAPOLIS – It was far from revelatory, but Brad Tavares earned his fourth straight UFC victory with a unanimous-decision win over “The Ultimate Fighter 17? veteran Robert McDaniel.

Tavares’ early standup work paid dividends on the scorecards and earned him 29-28 scores across the board over “Bubba.”

The middleweight bout opened the main card of today’s UFC Fight Night 27 event at Bankers Life Fieldhouse in Indianapolis. It aired on FOX Sports 1 following prelims on FOX Sports 2 and Facebook.

With a few hard kicks to McDaniel’s leg, Tavares, a “TUF 11? vet, displayed his advantage in striking power. And naturally, he was forced to defend several takedowns from a listless McDaniel, who was ill-equipped to get the fight to the ground. Several attempts to wrestle Tavares to the mat proved unsuccessful, and McDaniel once flopped to his back after vainly grabbing for a leg.

Tavares turned up the heat in the second frame, landing several stiff punches and kicks to the body, but he was unable to gather the momentum to finish McDaniel, who knew from his cornermen that he needed something spectacular in the third.

McDaniel did his best work in the final frame with a stiff left hand that buckled Tavares and forced him to clinch for a takedown. While a few knees from the Hawaiian appeared to skirt legality, there was no question that an inside leg kick went foul, and McDaniel was given a break to recover.

McDaniel composed himself and then proceeded to take down and smother Tavares, though he was unable to finish the fight.

Tavares (11-1 MMA, 6-1 UFC) can now work on putting away his opponents after his fifth straight fight went to the scorecards. McDaniel (21-7 MMA, 1-1 UFC) goes back to the drawing board after winning his post-”TUF” debut with a third-round submission win over Gilbert Smith.

Up-to-the-minute UFC Fight Night 27 results include:

• Brad Tavares def. Robert McDaniel via unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 29-28)
• Dylan Andrews def. Papy Abedi via TKO (punches) – Round 3, 1:32
• Brandon Thatch def. Justin Edwards via TKO (strikes) – Round 1, 1:23
• Darren Elkins def. Hatsu Hioki via unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 29-28)
• Jason High def. James Head via submission (guillotine choke) – Round 1, 1:41
• Zak Cummings def. Ben Alloway via submission (D’Arce choke) – Round 1, 4:19
• Roger Bowling vs. Abel Trujillo declared a no-contest (unintentional illegal knee) – Round 2, 4:57

For complete coverage of UFC Fight Night 27, stay tuned to the UFC Events section of the site.

Matt Erickson contributed to this report on-site in Indianapolis.