Brad Tavares has confirmed his return to the official UFC roster, although he technically never fully departed the organization.
Following his dominant victory over Gerald Meerschaert in April, the veteran fighter, who has spent 15 years with the promotion, was briefly removed from the active roster list. UFC officials confirmed at the time that this was because Tavares had completed the final bout on his previous contract. Typically, fighters are removed from the roster when their contract expires or when they are officially released by the promotion.
However, in Tavares` situation, the time he spent off the roster was short-lived. He was already engaged in negotiations for a new contract with the UFC, and that agreement has since been finalized.
Speaking on the Still Friends Show podcast, Tavares explained the situation. “So, my last fight was the last fight of my previous contract, so that contract expired,” he said. “Funny enough, the UFC, whatever it is, I don`t know if it`s some AI-type situation or a department they have – but they are on it because boom, that contract expired, and boom, I was removed from the roster.”
He added, “Anyway, I was in the midst of negotiating my new contract, which I did. That`s when all the news came out, and it was funny to me.”
It was somewhat surprising that Tavares had even reached the end of his contract, given that he has spent virtually his entire professional career competing under the UFC banner.
When news of his roster removal became public, Tavares received numerous messages inquiring about the situation. However, he stated he already knew the matter would be resolved quickly.
“It`s funny,” Tavares commented, “everybody was reaching out, even close friends and family saying, `Hey, I saw this` or whatever. And then there are other people who saw it and were like, `I don`t like asking him about that` or whatever. Me, the type of guy I am, I was like, I`m just going to leave it and not address anything and just let people speculate.”
While everything worked out favorably in the end, Tavares acknowledged that despite his long tenure with the UFC, he understood the risk involved in entering his recent fight with only a single bout remaining on his contract.
Before securing the decision win against Meerschaert, Tavares had experienced consecutive losses, and a third defeat in a row likely would have marked the conclusion of his UFC career.
“It`s the chance you take, right?” Tavares remarked. “For sure, if I had underperformed or lost that fight, 100 percent that would have been my last one. They`d have been like `we appreciate you`… or maybe they would have just been like `kick rocks`. That`s the toss-up.”
He continued, “It`s been like that my whole career. That last fight, either the third or fifth fight, depending on the contract, you always want to show up and show out because that`s the one that you`re going to negotiate off of. If you come off a loss on that one, it`s hard to negotiate. At the end of the day, it`s a business. That`s the chance you take.”
Ultimately, Tavares successfully negotiated and signed a new contract with the UFC. He is now eagerly anticipating his next fight, with his sights set on breaking the record for the most wins in UFC middleweight division history. He currently shares the record with Michael Bisping, both holding 16 victories at 185 pounds.
Tavares concluded, “UFC has always been great to me. They gave me another contract. Now I can go out there and hold the record myself.”
