Three champions and four challengers. That’s how many title fights Korean-American fighter Brad Toubaris (36, USA) has faced in his 14-year career in the UFC, the world’s largest mixed martial arts organization.
He will face former middleweight champion Chris Weidman (39) at UFC 292 on Aug. 20 at the Teddy Garden in Boston, Massachusetts (capacity: 17,850).
It will be his third fight against a former UFC champion, having faced Robert Whittaker (33-Australia) in May 2015, Israel Adesanya (34-Nigeria/New Zealand) in July 2018 and Wideman in August 2023.
Whittaker was crowned the interim champion after five fights, with Adesanya taking three more. In a pre-UFC292 video interview with MK Sports, Toubaris said, “When I fought him, I could feel how good he was. I saw the success he had afterward, and I knew he had a very good chance of making it to the top.”
Barris has faced three UFC middleweight challengers: Joel Romero (46-Cuba/USA) in April 2014, Nate Marquardt (44-USA) in January 2015, and Thales Leites (42-Brazil) in October 2017.
His July 2022 victory over Driquith Duplassie (29-South Africa) earned him a UFC title shot in July 2023. Of his 22 fights, which are tied for third on the UFC’s all-time middleweight list, Barriss ranks Adesanya as his favorite.
Adesanya is the second-longest reigning champion in UFC middleweight history, having reclaimed the throne in April of this year following a successful fifth defense of the title from October 2019-November 2022.
Romero lost an interim championship fight to Whittaker in July 2017. In March 2020, he served as Adesanya’s first title defense, but again failed to reach the summit.
Whittaker lost the top spot to Adesanya in his first title defense in October 2019. He became a challenger in February 2022, but was unable to stop Adesanya’s fourth defense of the UFC middleweight championship.
“Adesanya proved himself to be the number one by fighting each other, even though (all seven men) weren’t directly ranked,” said Turbaris, who called “beating both Romero and Whittaker” the best wins of his mixed martial arts career.
If UFC292 goes ahead as scheduled, Toubaris will be tied with Marquardt for second on the middleweight list for most appearances with 23. The leader, Michael Bisping (44-UK), has 24.
“It’s not an accomplishment I think about when I walk into the Octagon (UFC arena),” said Barris, “but it’s definitely a cool record. I’m not going to lie and say it doesn’t mean a lot to me.”
It’s all about self-care to stay healthy and ready to compete. “Going into training camp with Wideman as my opponent, it never crossed my mind that I could close the gap on the most UFC middleweight appearances. It’s something to think about after the fight.”
He can also boast that he has yet to lose three straight fights in his long UFC career. That means he hasn’t had too many downturns, and he has the know-how to overcome them. “A very strong belief in my own abilities,” he said.토토사이트
“The same goes for this win over former UFC middleweight champion Weidman,” he said. “He’s a big name in mixed martial arts with a huge social media following. It’s a big opportunity for me in a lot of ways,” he said.
Leave a Reply