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RIO DE JANEIRO — Thiago Tavares is back in the UFC, but not as a fighter.
The 40-year-old Brazilian competed for the organization 18 times between 2007 and 2016, including matches against Khabib Nurmagomedov, Brian Ortega and Clay Guida, and now signs with the organization as a doctor.
Tavares retired from MMA and moved to Argentina to graduate in medicine and eventually fell back into martial arts in his native Florianopolis, working as a doctor in over 300 MMA and muay Thai matches in local promotions before earning his Association of Ringside Physicians license.
Alex Davis, his longtime manager from his MMA days, reached out to Jeff Novitzky, UFC’s Senior Vice President of Athlete Health and Performance, to make the case for Tavares joining the organization in 2025. Days later, he was informed that Novitzky approved his résumé and contacted the CABMMA, the commission responsible for overseeing UFC shows in Brazil.
“When I started college, I was just thinking about beginning a new chapter in my life,” Tavares told MMA Fighting. “I had already started studying nutrition and liked the health field, and was also influenced by some friends who were doctors.
“I wasn’t necessarily thinking about working with sports, I just wanted to recalculate my route. Not even on the most optimistic day of my life did I think I’d be able to return to the UFC, which is where I lived all my dreams. Eighteen fights inside that octagon. And it was with the money I earned in the UFC that I was able to pay for my medical school.”
Tavares was emotional as soon as he landed in Rio de Janeiro on Thursday morning, a day before the official UFC Rio weigh-ins.
“I felt this mix of gratitude and dream come true when I arrived at the airport and saw a lady holding a ‘UFC’ sign,” Tavares said. “I’m back to where I lived my whole life.”
As a fighter, Tavares went 10-7-1 in the UFC with six finishes under his belt. He fought four times for PFL in 2018 and only returned in 2020 for his final three bouts in Brazil and Russia.
“I was willing to do anything to come out victorious,” Tavares said. “I think that’s why my fights were such wars, right? To beat me, they’d have to try to kill me — and some of them did. Khabib almost managed to (laughs).”
As a doctor, he currently works in emergency and urgent care shifts at a hospital in Florianópolis, and treats children with autism and ADHD in a local clinic. He has partnered with Dr. Rai Jean, a former Chute Boxe fighter who used to be a local rival back in the day.
On top of that, the veteran athlete is opening his own clinic, Sensorys Institute, where he will focus on both physical and mental health.
“It’s an overwhelming feeling for me,” Tavares said of being hired as a UFC doctor. “Back when PRIDE was the biggest organization in the world, and all my friends wanted to fight in PRIDE, I wanted to fight in the UFC because that cage fascinated me. Alex Davis called me on Dec. 23, 2006, to tell me I had a three-fight deal with the UFC, and when they contacted me to say I’d be working as a UFC doctor here in Rio de Janeiro, it felt exactly the same.
“The same feeling. Man… I’m back to the UFC. I owe everything I have to the UFC.”
Ex-fighter Thiago Tavares joins UFC as ringside doctor: ‘Dream come true’
Tavares will work as a UFC doctor for Oliveira vs. Gamrot
www.mmafighting.com
