Brad Tavares started his fight against Dricus Du Plessis with bleached blonde hair.
By the end of three round it was red, covered in blood after the American sustained a brutal beating.
Tavares may have been on the wrong end of a unanimous decision result (29-28 x3) but he lost no admirers after lasting the distance against a relentless Du Plessis.
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The opening round saw the two fighters attempt, but fail, to land takedowns with Du Plessis going for two but Tavares defended both attempts well.
Du Plessis was on the end of a few shots late as he tired in the final stages of the round but the South African came to life in the second round with a flurry of shots.
It left Tavares pouring with blood and the pressure continued up until the dying seconds of the round.
Tavares looked worse for wear heading into the final round but refused to give in, even as Du Plessis continued to land some big shots, including a huge spinning backfist.
The American was able to hold on until the final bell, earning the respect of the entire UFC world and plenty of praise from his opponent too.
“You have the toughest mother f-er in the world right here in your town,” Du Plessis said post-fight.
AUSSIE JESSICA-ROSE CLARK SUFFERS GRUESOME INJURY IN DEFEAT
It took just under four minutes for Australian Jess-Rose Clark to have a two-fight win streak snapped the last time she was in the octagon.
This time, she tasted defeat after just 43 seconds, left with what appeared to be a dislocated elbow after a brutal statement from Julija Stoliarenko.
The armbar specialist had only landed one of nine takedown attempts in her career prior to Saturday’s fight but nailed one immediately against Clark to gain early momentum.
Stoliarenko then slapped on an armbar and Clark was in all worlds of trouble, tapping out shortly after.
“She dislocated it, you can see it,” UFC Hall of Fame inductee Daniel Cormier said in commentary.
“It’s dislocated bad. That was nasty. Jessica is tapping desperately.”
“Perfect timing and execution,” Joe Rogan added.
“The way she passed the guard, the way she got to that position. Watch this level change and look at the beautiful use of the hips and amazing flexibility in her core to get over there, passes that arm and gets that far-side armbar.”
Elsewhere, No. 12 ranked women’s flyweight contender Jessica Eye announced her retirement from the UFC after a unanimous decision defeat at the hands of Maycee Barber.
It was a dominant victory for Barber, who is now on a three-fight win streak and has plenty to look forward to in her career.
For the veteran Eye though, it was clear post-fight that this was not a snap decision on her part but something she had put a lot of thought into as she placed her gloves on the floor.
“I think it’s time,” she said.
“I’ve been a pro since 2009. I’ve had plenty of UFC fights. I’ve spent my entire 20s and 30s doing this. I’d like to see what the rest of the world looks like.”
UFC 276 RESULTS
MAIN CARD
Middleweight Title Bout: Israel Adesanya vs Jared Cannonier
Featherweight Title Bout: Alexander Volkanovski vs Max Holloway
Middleweight Bout: Sean Strickland vs Alex Pereira
Welterweight Bout: Robbie Lawler vs Bryan Barberena
Bantamweight Bout: Pedro Munhoz vs Sean O’Malley
PRELIMS
Lightweight Bout: Brad Riddell vs Jalin Turner
Welterweight Bout: Jim Miller vs Donald Cerrone
Welterweight Bout: Ian Garry vs Gabe Green
Middleweight Bout: Dricus Du Plessis def. Brad Tavares (29-28 x3)
EARLY PRELIMS
Middleweight Bout: Andre Muniz def. Uriah Hall (30-27, 30-27, 30-27)
Women’s Flyweight Bout: Maycee Barber def. Jessica Eye by unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 30-27)
Women’s Bantamweight Bout: Julija Stoliarenko def. Jessica-Rose Clark by submission (armbar)
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FULL PREVIEW:
The biggest day of the year is finally here, with two championship belts on the line at UFC 276 and they are only the headline fights in a stacked schedule.
In the main event, middleweight champion Israel Adesanya will look to make his fifth title defence when he takes on Jared Cannonier.
The American is a clear outsider for the fight, although he is not paying any attention to any of the outside noise as he aims to make the most of his first shot at the UFC title.
Rapper Drake added to that outside noise by announcing that he had put a $1 million bet on Adesanya to win.
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“I don’t really think about what other people say, so don’t have any thoughts on what he said or what he’s saying,” Cannonier said earlier in the week.
“My thoughts are only on what he’s going to attempt to do Saturday night and what I’m going to do Saturday night. So there’s a lot of people saying a lot of different things. And damn near all of them are counting me out. So why do I even pay attention to what people say?”
As for Adesanya, he wants to go back to finishing with style and will be looking to do just that, predicting his performance will rival that of Anderson Silva against Forrest Griffin.
“They keep talking about power, ‘Power, power, power.’ You ever heard that before when someone fights me? Power this, power that,” Adesanya said.
“It’s the same old song. F***ing get it off repeat, get me a new song. I’m just glad I have new blood to fight in this fight.”
Another big fight on the card sees No. 4 contender Sean Strickland face Alex Pereira, with the result potentially deciding who takes on Adesanya next, should the Kiwi get past Cannonier.
Elsewhere, Australian Alexander Volkanovski battles fierce rival Max Holloway for the third time in a fight many consider the unofficial main event.
The two have been exchanged in a war of words in recent days, with Holloway vowing to finish the fight within the first three rounds.
“If you watch from the first (fight) to the second fight, (we’re) two different fighters, and on from the second (fight) to this fight it’s going to be different fighters again,” he said.
“But I feel good, I feel great. I feel on. I got to spend 10 rounds with this guy. I’ve been saying it all week, man. You guys will be blessed if we go above three (rounds). I can’t wait.”
Volkanovski did not have to take this fight but said it is the perfect opportunity to cement his “legacy” and put an end to the Holloway chapter after controversy surrounded his win in the second fight.
“This is definitely a legacy fight. That’s why we wanted this fight,” the Australian said.
“If I felt like this wouldn’t put me in a better position moving forward, you wouldn’t take it. But it does. You all want to see it, right? Everyone wants to see the trilogy. So that’s a legacy fight.
“People want to see it. I was open to it; I wanted it as well. So if that’s going to move me forward, let’s do it.”
