Waiakea graduate Brad Tavares weighed in at 186 pounds Thursday for today’s UFC middleweight fight against Elias Theodorou on the main card of The Ultimate Fighter Finale 25 at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.
Tavares (14-5, 9-4 UFC) has alternated wins and losses in his past four fights and is coming off a split-decision victory over Caio Magalhaes last September.
Tavares began his UFC career with seven wins in eight fights but lost three of the next four before taking a year off to rest up injuries prior to the Magalhaes fight.
Two of his three most recent losses are against Yoel Romero, ranked No. 1 at 185 pounds, and Robert Whittaker, ranked No. 3, who fight Saturday at UFC 213 for the interim middleweight championship.
Theodorou (14-1, 5-1), who also weighed in at 186 pounds, is on a three-fight winning streak and has never been stopped in his career.
The fight is the second of six on the main card shown live on Fox Sports 1 beginning at 3 p.m. Hawaii time.
Christenson, Shoji to hold volleyball clinic
Micah Christenson and Kawika Shoji, members of the 2016 U.S. men’s Olympic volleyball team, will host a clinic July 13 at Kekuhaupio Gym on the Kamehameha Schools campus.
The clinic, which will benefit Special Olympics Hawaii, is open to students entering grades 7 through 12. Students entering grades 7 through 9 will participate from 4:30 to 6:30 p.m., and those entering 10 through 12 will go from 7 to 9 p.m.
The fee is $20 per athlete.
Christenson is a 2011 Kamehameha graduate and Shoji is a 2006 ‘Iolani graduate. They helped lead the U.S. to bronze in Brazil.
To register, email your name, age and grade level to CSVBALLCAMP@gmail.com. Registration will remain open until 5 p.m. Wednesday or until space is filled.
Higa named KITV sports director
Brandi Higa, who has been with KITV since 2009, has been promoted from sports anchor to sports director at the ABC affiliate.
The 2005 graduate of Hawaii Baptist Academy becomes the first woman to head the station’s sports department.
Higa began her career at KITV as an associate producer following graduation from Fairfield University and later produced the weekend morning newscast and Hawaii’s only hour-long 6 p.m. newscast. She left the production side to join the sports staff as a reporter and became the weekend sports anchor in 2014.
