LAS VEGAS – Brad Tavares likes how he matches up with Gerald Meerschaert , but won’t make the mistake of underestimating him. Tavares (20-10 MMA, 15-10 UFC) takes on fellow middleweight veteran Meerschaert (37-18 MMA, 12-10 UFC) in Saturday’s (ESPN, ESPN+ ) UFC on ESPN 65 main card at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas. Meerschaert has come up big as an underdog with surprising finishes over the likes of Makhmud Muradov, Bruno Silva, and Edmen Shahbazyan – and Tavares is fully aware of that. “I loved it – it’s a fight that I actually wanted,” Tavares said of Meerschaert at Wednesday’s media day