Israel Adesanya meets Brad Tavares in a massive showdown.

Israel Adesanya might be the hottest prospect in MMA at the moment. The charismatic Kiwi has a wealth of elite kickboxing experience and is quickly making waves in the UFC’s Middleweight division.

He will take on highly ranked Middleweight Brad Tavares in the TUF 27 Finale on July 6 in Las Vegas, the UFC announced Monday.

Since entering the UFC in February, Israel has fought twice and each time came out with a good win, increasing his MMA record to 13-0.

He TKO’d Rob Wilkinson in the second round of his UFC debut at UFC 221 in February, then
more recently defeated Marvin Vettori by split decision at UFC on FOX 29 earlier this month.

The second fight was an awkward one. Vettori did an excellent job of confusing Israel’s traditional kickboxing programming. But still, the better fighter was hardly in question, and Adesanya is already eager to get back in the cage for another fight.

Tavares 17-4, is riding an impressive four fight winning streak. The Hawaii native, age 30, has been in the UFC since The Ultimate Fighter 11 in 2010. He now lives and trains in Las Vegas, which apparently has yielded some positive results. His last fight was a third round TKO victory over Krzysztof Jotko at UFC on FOX 29.

This fight has the makings of an extremely exciting but one-sided affair. If the UFC really wanted to test Adesanya, they would pair him with an experienced wrestler. Evidently they are only trying to build his resume. The fight should be fast paced and likely will not go the distance. Look for Adesanya to get a TKO in the second of third round.

The TUF 27 Finale card will take place at Pearl Theatre at Palms Casino Resort.

Other bouts on the card include Invicta champion Barb Honchak vs Roxanne Modafferi and Julian Marquez vs Aliessio Di Chirico.

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