UFC middleweight Brad Tavares is taking a different approach to his career after breaking a two-fight losing streak with a decision win over Nate Marquardt earlier this month at UFC 182.

“A few fights ago, I just wanted to keep climbing,” Tavares (13-3 MMA, 8-3 UFC) told MMAjunkie Radio. “I wanted big names and big fights. But right now, I’m just excited that I get to do this.

“There’s a lot of movement going on at middleweight; there’s a lot of key matchups like (Vitor Belfort vs. Chris Weidman) and (Lyoto Machida vs. Luke Rockhold). So when these guys fight, and we see where everything falls, wherever the UFC wants me to fight, I’ll fight.”

Maybe a little modesty is good for Tavares. After all, his win over former Strikeforce champ Marquardt wasn’t a performance that had anyone calling for him to get a title shot. But, as he pointed out, there was a reason he was a little more cautious than usual.

This past August, he felt he was dominating a fight with Tim Boetsch, a pivotal bout that came after a loss to Olympic silver medalist Yoel Romero that snapped a five-fight winning streak. Everything was going fine, and then Boetsch rocked him with a combination, and all at once, he was on a two-fight skid.

“Maybe if I wasn’t coming off two losses, I would have been able to take more risks in getting the finish there,” Tavares said. “I didn’t want to go in there and dominate the fight again and like with the Boetsch thing, getting sloppy and get caught. That’s something I really worked on in this fight.

“Who knows. Maybe if there were 10 more seconds, I could have gotten that finish.”

Instead, Tavares won on points in a solid, if unspectacular, win.

Moving forward, he said he doesn’t have any specific opponents in mind for his next appearance, but there are a couple that he might pick if given the opportunity.

“When I first heard Gegard Mousasi was coming down to the (middleweight) division, I tweeted, ‘I’d love to welcome you to our division,'” Tavares said. “I think that would be a fun fight.”

Mousasi does not fit the UFC’s usual model for booking fights, of course. In his most recent appearance, he was submitted by Rondaldo “Jacare” Souza. The promotion usually books winners against winners.

Then again, as Tavares points out, Marquardt had won his previous bout before their meeting on the pay-per-view main card of the Jan. 3 event.

As another ex-Strikeforce titleholder, Mousasi’s name would be good for Tavares’ resume. But there’s another slumping fighter who holds some interest: C.B. Dollaway, whom Lyoto Machida blew out of the water this past month in UFC Fight Night 58’s headliner.

“He’s really made himself relevant lately,” Tavares said of the “The Ultimate Fighter 7” alum. “I could see myself fighting him. I’ve always thought he’s one of guys who I knew our baths would probably cross.”

Tavares, a “TUF 11” vet, hasn’t made much of a habit fighting reality-show alums despite his own credentials. In fact, he’s managed to outlast most of his contemporaries, at one point going on a five-fight win streak that brought him to the cusp of title consideration. If he can beat opponents like Dollaway or Mousasi, he stands to fight his way back to another pivotal fight.

Or he just might cruise along, beating every possible opponent until the UFC is forced to book him opposite top-five foes.

“I think I can beat any single one of them, from Weidman down to the bottom of the list,” Tavares said. “I might not get a finish over them, but I’ll definitely beat them.”

For more on UFC 182, check out the UFC Events section of the site.

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