More Hawaii fighters at UFC event in Vegas

ASSOCIATED PRESS / 2016

Waiakea alumnus Brad Tavares, left, will headline the UFC’s “Ultimate Fighter: Undefeated” finale event on July 6 at the Pearl Theatre at the Palms Resort Casino in Las Vegas.

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Since the UFC was unable to bring an event to Hawaii this summer, the best Hawaii has to offer is heading to UFC’s home base.

Waiakea alumnus Brad Tavares will headline the UFC’s “Ultimate Fighter: Undefeated” finale event on July 6 at the Pearl Theatre at the Palms Resort Casino in Las Vegas, the UFC announced on Monday.

Tavares (18-5, 12-4 UFC), ranked No. 10 at middleweight, will challenge undefeated Israel Adesanya (13-0, 2-0) in the first of back-to-back events in Las Vegas as part of International Fight Week.

Tavares, who is on a four-fight winning streak since losing to current middleweight champion Robert Whittaker in May 2015, is one of four fighters from Hawaii booked for the two-day event, which culminates with UFC 226 on July 7 at T-Mobile Arena.

Heavyweight champion Stipe Miocic and light heavyweight champion Daniel Cormier are coaches on the current season of “Ultimate Fighter,” in which two winners will be crowned the same night Tavares fights Adesanya in a five-round main event.

Moanalua alumna Rachel Ostovich will challenge No. 14-ranked strawweight Montana De La Rosa on the undercard.

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Miocic and Cormier will then face off the next night at UFC 226, with Waianae’s Max Holloway defending his title against Brian Ortega in the co-main event.

Holloway (19-3, 15-3) will defend his title for the second time and put a 12-fight win streak on the line against Ortega (14-0 overall), who has won all six of his UFC fights via stoppage.

Also on that card, Makaha’s Yancy Medeiros will face Mike Perry in a welterweight bout on the undercard.

Tavares’ fight will take place live on Fox Sports 1. Holloway’s fight will be available on pay-per-view.

The UFC has hosted International Fight Week in Las Vegas, a week-long celebration of mixed martial arts, since 2012. It has attempted each year to put on one of its two biggest cards of the year during a week that includes several UFC-related events in the Las Vegas area.

Last year, Tavares fought on the “Ultimate Fighter” finale card and won a decision over Elias Theodorou.