LAS VEGAS >> Twelve years after making his debut on the Ultimate Fighter season 11 finale show, Brad Tavares is still having fun.

The 34-year-old Waiakea High alumnus, who lives and trains in Las Vegas, is looking to make one more run in the middleweight division, with Dricus Du Plessis next on the list Saturday in a preliminary bout at UFC 276 in T-Mobile Arena.

Tavares (19-6, 14-6 UFC), who headlined a UFC card in 2018 against current middleweight champion Israel Adesanya, didn’t fight for an entire year after the COVID-19 pandemic hit.

The extra time off following back-to-back losses has allowed Tavares to get right, with decision wins over Antonio Carlos Junior and Omari Akhmedov to get back into the UFC rankings at No. 12 at 185 pounds.

“I find it all kinds of fun,” Tavares said Wednesday at the UFC media day event at the Apex center. “This is why I got into this. I love fighting. Definitely I can’t tell you, ‘Oh yeah, I’ve been doing this so long it’s just whatever.’ I’m not numb to it. It still feels like I’m going to fight.”

Tavares’ 21st appearance inside the Octagon is against a relative newcomer in Du Plessis (16-2, 2-0), who has fought 18 times professionally but just twice in the UFC.

Both of his UFC wins have come by knockouts within the first two rounds.

“Tough guy, and I think he actually is different than a lot of other guys out there,” Tavares said. “His style is a little different. Very unorthodox in the way he does things. I think he’s very tough, very game and I think that’s what he brings to the table — he’s a little different than everybody else.”

Du Plessis has impressed in his first two UFC fights, but Tavares presents a much tougher challenge.

Tavares has had two winning streaks of at least four fights during his 12-year tenure with the UFC. In addition to Adesanya, who defends his 185-pound title against Jared Cannonier in Saturday’s main event, Tavares has fought former champion Robert Whittaker and past title challenger Yoel Romero.

The key to his longevity, Tavares says, is his hunger to continue to evolve his game.

“I think what happens with a lot of the guys who have been around a long time is one, they get comfortable and they get complacent,” Tavares said. “They think that the’ve done it, they’re here, they don’t need to keep learning and growing and evolving, and that’s not true at all.

“There’s younger, hungry guys doing different things that have been doing it from a young age because of where the sport is now, and you need to keep evolving your game so you can constantly compete, and I think that’s what you see.”

Du Plessis, who is South African, is a kickboxer who is dangerous on his feet.

He hasn’t fought in 12 months due to a shoulder injury and multiple fight cancellations.

“I’m fighting No. 12 in the world right now, so we’re good,” Du Plessis said Wednesday. “Everything will work out the way it should like it always does, and the stars aligned once again and here I am, international fight week, yes we’ve been delayed a little …and this is going to be massive. This is the biggest card of the year.”

Du Plessis had nothing but praise for Tavares on Wednesday.

“They really are not doing me any favors getting (an opponent) in the top 50,” Du Plessis. “He’s always been game. He always comes to fight. You won’t see this guy gassing out in a fight because he didn’t prepare.”

The fight will open a four-fight preliminary card that will be broadcast on KITV beginning at 2 p.m.

Saturday’s pay-per-view, co-headlined by Max Holloway challenging Alexander Volkanovski for the UFC featherweight title, will begin at 4 p.m.