UFC 134 – Thiago Tavares prepares his game plan to stand with Spencer Fisher in Rio de Janeiro

UFC lightweight all-rounder, Thiago Tavares has been giving his thoughts on his upcoming fight next month with Spencer Fisher on the UFC 134 card in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, explaining he’s working hard on his stand-up game despite it being his opponents strength.
Speaking via Tatame Magazine, Tavares said:

“He’s a lefty. So, when you know you’ll be fighting a lefty, you have to work on your strategy because it completely changes your game, mostly while striking. On the floor, we know how to handle it, I believe my Jiu-Jitsu, I know my skills. If I have him with his back against the floor, I’ll push it… Now, while striking I must be careful because he’s a lefty, a dangerous striker. I’m working on it. It’s perfect, and it’ll be even better.”

“What people don’t usually get is that if I could have the fight started with him in my guard, I’d accept that. The fight doesn’t start with both fighters on the floor. I’m obligated to strike with him in order to try to take him down. If it depended on me, the fight would start with him inside my guard, on top of me and I having my back against the floor. I have no problems with that, I’d be fighting Jiu-Jitsu. The thing is that it starts with the strike. I’m trying to evolve my strike, you can be sure that, if it was up to me, I’d start it on the floor, you can bet I would, on the guard, with the guy hitting me, because there is where I know what I’m capable of.”

Tavares will be looking to get back to winning ways and finally live up to his potential after he was surprisingly knocked out cold by WEC import, Shane Roller last time out. Prior to that he’d choked out Pat Audinwood at UFC 119 with a guillotine choke. Stay tuned to MMABay for more build-up to this one as we get it.
By Michael Pepper.