Tag: Tim Boetsch

Anderson Silva: Should the Middleweight Champ Pay Attention to Tim Boetsch?

Anderson Silva should not care about Tim “The Barbarian” Boetsch.  Following his win over Hector Lombard at UFC 149, Boetsch finds himself in the thick of title contention in the UFC’s crowded middleweight division, but that does not mean he is re…

Anderson Silva should not care about Tim “The Barbarian” Boetsch. 

Following his win over Hector Lombard at UFC 149, Boetsch finds himself in the thick of title contention in the UFC’s crowded middleweight division, but that does not mean he is ready; it simply means he has amassed a nice winning streak. 

Personally, I am a fan of Boetsch, and, being a born and raised Pennsylvania boy, I like rooting for the home-state fighter. 

That said, he cannot beat Anderson Silva. Are you kidding me?!

I do not think it is a stretch to declare the style that beats Silva: You have to be a powerful, aggressive wrestler with a smothering top game capable of pinning “The Spider” to the mat. 

Despite his impressive wrestling pedigree, that is not Boetsch. 

Boetsch is simply a really, really tough dude who always puts himself in a position to win fights with his resilience and power. 

Sorry to say, but you cannot beat Anderson Silva, the greatest mixed martial artist of all time, with just resilience and power. 

Hypothetically speaking, let us say that Tim Boetsch fights Anderson Silva. 

The bout begins, they each circle around, Boetsch may throw a leg kick or two and shoot for a takedown, only to have Anderson sprawl and defend it.

Now, Anderson is ready, and once he strikes, Boetsch falls. 

I legitimately think the fight is that cut and dry. 

Yushin Okami took Boetsch down at will, yet he could not bring Silva to the mat in his most recent fight with the champion. 

Even though Boetsch is a great wrestler on paper, we have yet to really see the explosive takedowns necessary to deal with someone of Silva’s ability. 

Boetsch could not get Hector Lombard to the mat at UFC 149, but Lombard was able to blast a powerful double on Boetsch on two separate occasions. Granted, Lombard could not keep him there, but the fact remains that Boetsch was taken down by a lesser wrestler. 

Anderson Silva has fought and beaten great wrestlers throughout his career, and Tim Boetsch brings nothing new to the table that should concern the champ. 

I would be excited to see one of my favorite fighters in a title matchup, but I would legitimately fret for “The Barbarian’s” well being in a matchup with Silva. 

Silva has eight limbs of fury, and he would need two rounds at most to dispose of Boetsch and add another notch to his already-crowded belt. 

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UFC 149: 5 Fights for Tim Boetsch to Take Next

Tim Boetsch continued to shake up the middleweight division on Saturday night with a shocking split decision win over Hector Lombard.The victory snapped a 20-fight win streak for Lombard, who was hyped by many as the next legitimate threat to Anderson …

Tim Boetsch continued to shake up the middleweight division on Saturday night with a shocking split decision win over Hector Lombard.

The victory snapped a 20-fight win streak for Lombard, who was hyped by many as the next legitimate threat to Anderson Silva.

Since dropping to the middleweight division, Boetsch has taken out the likes of Yushin Okami, Kendall Grove and Nick Ring.

With the win over Lombard, “The Barbarian” joins Chris Weidman and Alan Belcher on the list of potential contenders for Silva.

It can be argued that Boetsch has defeated the stiffest opposition of the trio.

Okami is a former UFC title contender, and Lombard was the reigning Bellator middleweight champ before joining the UFC.

Could Boetsch be next in line for a title shot?

Here are five fights for him to take next.

Begin Slideshow

UFC 149 Post-Fight Breakdown

Renan Pagado vs. Urijah Faber In the main event of UFC 149, Renan Pagado used the Jose Aldo Light playbook against Faber on his way to a convincing decision victory. Pagado used the same strategy.

Renan Pagado vs. Urijah Faber

In the main event of UFC 149, Renan Pagado used the Jose Aldo Light playbook against Faber on his way to a convincing decision victory. Pagado used the same strategy of eliminating Faber’s movement with low kicks and then capitalizing with punching combinations. Faber was never in danger of being finished but was also never close to gaining any type of advantage.

Neither fighter did much in the first round. Pagado landed a low kick and couple of glancing punching combinations. Faber did his best to move and counter but never landed anything significant. The first round was the closest but I gave it to Pagado. The second round saw Pagado begin to establish control as he landed a clean punching combination off of a flying knee. He also continued to land the occasional low kick. The third round was when Pagado really began to damage Faber with the low kicks. He landed a huge one toward the end of the round and in between the third and fourth rounds, Faber had ice on his lead leg. The fourth and fifth rounds were more of the same. Pagado didn’t outclass Faber the way Aldo did but he established that he is clearly the better fighter and deserves a shot at Dominick Cruz once the champion is healthy.

The script for Urijah Faber title fights is becoming a bit repetitive at this point. Fighters with better movement and more technical striking use those advantages to keep him off balance and eventually outpoint him on the way to a decision victory. Faber’s wrestling is no longer good enough to get top level opponents to the ground and his days as a champion are probably over. But he will still continue to provide entertaining fights and will likely be remembered as the first fighter under 155 lbs to become a star. Pagado’s career is going the opposite direction. He will face Dominick Cruz for the bantamweight title in his next fight and he is capable of winning. That fight has the potential to be the best in the history of the 135 lb division and I’m already excited to see it. Renan Pagado is not the 135 lb Jose Aldo but he might soon be the 135 lb champion.

Hector Lombard vs. Tim Boetsch

In the biggest upset of the night, Tim Boetsch defeated the much heralded Hector Lombard in a perplexing fight. Lombard seemed to feel the pressure of making his first UFC appearance and never really let his hands go. He threw single shot counters whenever Boetsch came into range, which was almost never, and didn’t seem to ever get comfortable in the octagon. Boetsch fought from the outside landing kicks and occasionally coming close enough to land a punch but spent much of the fight on the outside avoiding engaging with Lombard. He used exactly that strategy to win the first round. Lombard won the second by landing the most significant strike of the fight, which was a glancing body kick that hurt Boetsch enough to allow Lombard to gain top position. But Lombard was uncharacteristically hesitant seeming to look for the perfect opportunity to strike instead of just using his incredible power to bomb punches through Boetsch’s guard. The third round was the most confusing of the fight as both fighters knew they needed the round and neither seemed willing to take a chance to win it. Neither showed any urgency and they basically traded low kicks until Lombard scored a takedown late in the round. Based on that, I gave Lombard the round and had him winning by decision. But the Canadian judges disagreed and gave Boetsch a split decision victory. Regardless of the outcome, neither fighter has any cause to blame the judges because the fight was available to be won and neither wanted to take a chance.

For Boetsch, this puts him close to the top of the division. Personally, I would rather see Chris Weidman get the next title shot as he seems to really want it while Boetsch appears to be trying to tiptoe his way into it. I guess a fight between Weidman and Boetsch to determine a number one contender would be acceptable but I have a hard time rewarding Boetsch for that performance. For Lombard, this is a huge loss. He was supposed to come in and immediately be the biggest threat to Anderson Silva but he looked far from that. Only time will tell whether this was the first step in Lombard being exposed as a small show hype machine or whether he was just nervous in his first fight on the big show. The most concerning thing to me was that he looked small. He carries a lot of muscle and if he was willing to drop some of that, he could easily cut to 170 lbs. Part of success in the UFC is finding the optimal weight class and if Lombard struggles at 185, he will have to seriously consider making the cut.

Cheick Kongo vs. Shawn Jordan

Cheick Kongo bounced back from his TKO loss to Mark Hunt with a plodding decision victory over Shawn Jordan. Most of the fight took place against the cage as the fighters battled for position and worked for takedowns that they would never get. Jordan pressed the action in the first round keeping Kongo’s back to the cage and working for takedowns. Even though he was completely unsuccessful, he controlled the fight and I gave the round to him. After working so hard in the first round, Jordan seemed to tire and Kongo began to get the advantage pushing Jordan against the cage. Kongo also managed to separate and land a couple of damaging knees and combinations. He never hurt Jordan but he did enough to win the round. The third round was fought between two exhausted fighters and consisted mainly of Kongo pushing Jordan up against the fence. Neither fighter did any real damage but Kongo had Jordan’s back to the cage for most of the round giving him the edge in scoring, which was enough to win the fight. Neither fighter was impressive and both showed a surprising lack of conditioning.

Kongo appears to be solidified as a mid-level heavyweight who has already reached the peak of his UFC success. If he faces a major step up in competition in his next fight, he will likely lose. Jordan is actually the more promising of the two fighters. Hopefully he will learn from this experience and use it to motivate him in taking his conditioning to another level. Some young fighters need to feel the frustration that comes from losing a winnable fight because of an empty gas tank to understand how hard they need to work in the gym. Jordan now knows that what he has been doing thus far isn’t enough and I expect him to show significant improvement in his next fight.

Ebersole vs. Head

In the first of two big upsets on the night, James Head defeated Brian Ebersole via split decision. Ebersole’s willingness to take fights on short notice finally caught up to him in this fight. He was clearly the smaller fighter as he is in the midst of cutting to lightweight and the fight looked exactly the way one would expect a fight between a lightweight and a welterweight to look. Head was much stronger and landed the more damaging strikes. Ebersole was totally unsuccessful in gaining any sort of grappling control over his opponent and was reduced to weak attempts to pull guard to try to get the fight to the ground. Despite all of that, the fight was actually even going into the final round. Ebersole’s unorthodox movement and striking was enough to earn him the second round after Head had won the first round. The third round was a disappointingly lackluster display from both fighters considering that the outcome of the fight was at stake. By the middle of the third round, Ebersole seemed bored and resigned to the fact that even though Head was not a threat to him in any way, the size difference was too much to overcome. Head seemed to realize the same thing but refused to try to take advantage of it settling instead to stuff Ebersole’s takedowns and throw an occasional combination. Ebersole finally got a takedown at the end of the round and moved to mount, which was the most significant point in the round and because of that, I gave the round and the fight to Ebersole. But Head won a split decision on the judges’ scorecards and Ebersole has no room to argue after his weak effort in the third round. Let’s hope this was a result of Ebersole being in the middle of a weight cutting process and nothing more. For Head, this was a chance to earn an impressive victory over an unprepared opponent and he was unable to do anything that makes him look like he’ll be a factor in the UFC.

Matt Riddle vs. Chris Clements

Matt Riddle took a step forward in his UFC career by controlling his fight with Chris Clements and eventually finishing via an impressive arm triangle in the third round. Riddle controlled most of the first round landing several takedowns and keeping Clements off balance. Clements seemed to be the better striker but was never able to get comfortable and Riddle landed the biggest strike of the fight when he hurt Clements with a liver kick. The second round saw more of the same with Riddle eventually taking Clements back after controlling much of the round on the ground. The third round started with Riddle making an ill fated attempt to entertain the crowd by engaging in exchanges with Clements and coming out on the losing end. He eventually smartly took the fight to the ground again to regain control. Clements managed to get back to his feet and attempt a spinning back fist but Riddle countered by locking up an arm triangle in the standing position. From there, he used an outside trip to take Clements down into side control and ended the fight with an impressive submission victory. Riddle showed improvement in this fight and if he continues to focus more on the type of execution that locked up that submission and less on entertaining the fans, he could make some headway in the welterweight division. Clements showed decent striking but will need to work hard on his wrestling if he wants to last in the UFC.

‘UFC 149: Faber vs. Barao’ Aftermath — Filling in the Blanks


Fact: You had a 63% better chance of seeing a fight at a Calgary Flames game than you did at UFC 149, according to a study I made up for this caption. Props: The Calgary Sun

When I first sat down to write this aftermath, I wrote five paragraphs of a Jim Cornette rant about how dreadful the main card of UFC 149 was to sit through. Even the most jaded UFC fan boys – the types who comment “Its fights stop complaneing ur not real UFC fan if u dont liek this TapouT tribal tatz NEVER BACK DOWN!!!!!” on YouTube videos of Jacob Volkmann vs. Antonio Mckee– would be hard-pressed to say that UFC 149 was worth watching, let alone paying for. Then I realized that that wouldn’t be fair. Not because a longwinded rant about boredom isn’t a fair assessment of the main card, but rather it isn’t fair to the fans to force them to relive the lowest of the low points from last night. We can all agree that the less that is written about the main card, the better.

So in that spirit, I give you the first ever Cage Potato Fill-In-The-Blank aftermath. Simply pick one of the applicable fighters listed below and plug his name into the blanks. The result will be a mostly accurate analysis of both his performance last night and the future ramifications brought on by it. Enjoy.

Applicable Fighters*: James Head, Brian Ebersole, Cheick Kongo, Shawn Jordan, Tim Boetsch**, Hector Lombard.

I know that the Polly Pessimists and Debby Downers who make up the MMA media are often too hard on fighters, but in this case it’s well deserved: The performance of __________ at last night’s UFC 149 absolutely sucked. He let a golden opportunity slip through his fingers, and seemed perfectly content with this while doing so. If last night was a first date with a perfect ten, then he showed up in sweatpants, took her to Whataburger and then asked for gas money on the ride home.


Fact: You had a 63% better chance of seeing a fight at a Calgary Flames game than you did at UFC 149, according to a study I made up for this caption. Props: The Calgary Sun

When I first sat down to write this aftermath, I wrote five paragraphs of a Jim Cornette rant about how dreadful the main card of UFC 149 was to sit through. Even the most jaded UFC fan boys – the types who comment “Its fights stop complaneing ur not real UFC fan if u dont liek this TapouT tribal tatz NEVER BACK DOWN!!!!!” on YouTube videos of Jacob Volkmann vs. Antonio Mckee– would be hard-pressed to say that UFC 149 was worth watching, let alone paying for. Then I realized that that wouldn’t be fair. Not because a longwinded rant about boredom isn’t a fair assessment of the main card, but rather it isn’t fair to the fans to force them to relive the lowest of the low points from last night. We can all agree that the less that is written about the main card, the better.

So in that spirit, I give you the first ever Cage Potato Fill-In-The-Blank aftermath. Simply pick one of the applicable fighters listed below and plug his name into the blanks. The result will be a mostly accurate analysis of both his performance last night and the future ramifications brought on by it. Enjoy.

Applicable Fighters*: James Head, Brian Ebersole, Cheick Kongo, Shawn Jordan, Tim Boetsch**, Hector Lombard.

I know that the Polly Pessimists and Debby Downers who make up the MMA media are often too hard on fighters, but in this case it’s well deserved: The performance of  __________ at last night’s UFC 149 absolutely sucked. He let a golden opportunity slip through his fingers, and seemed perfectly content with this while doing so. If last night was a first date with a perfect ten, then he showed up in sweatpants, took her to Whataburger and then asked for gas money on the ride home.

Before last night, only the most hardcore UFC fans knew who __________ was. While the casual fans would have probably recognized the name “__________,” their knowledge of his career either ended there or they knew him for the wrong reasons (i.e. his physical appearance, his collegiate sporting achievements, some fights he lost; etc.) With the UFC 149 injury curse draining the card of every big name other than Urijah Faber, this was __________’s big chance to get over with these fans, to make a name for himself in his weight class and to prove that he deserves more time on the Pay-Per-View portion of cards and higher profile fights. A gutsy, entertaining performance arguably would have done this; a gutsy, entertaining victory certainly would have. 

Instead, __________ let Matt Riddle steal the spotlight. Simply put, Riddle capitalized on the way that Siyar The Great’s injury granted him a spot on the main card in ways that no one else did. Despite a terrible “low blow” (that was completely clean) that prevented Riddle from finishing Chris Clements in the first round, Riddle kept his composure and outgrappled Clements for the rest of the fight. In the third round, Riddle managed to lock in a standing arm-triangle choke off of a failed spinning backfist attempt from Clements. Once he took the dynamic Canadian striker to the ground, he tightened the choke and earned the tap. The $65k Submission of the Night bonus he took home should compliment all of the new fans and increased exposure he earned from this performance nicely.

I emphasize that __________ let Riddle steal the spotlight. While “Deep Waters” put on an entertaining fight for the Calgary fans, __________ did his best to put them to sleep. We were reminded throughout the night of  __________’s  __________ (knockout power/creative offense are your choices here). Rather than actually using it, __________ opted to take part in three rounds too abysmal for even ProElite to acknowledge. I understand that you have to fight intelligently to pick up a victory at this level, and that getting careless while trying to give the fans a good fight is a great way to end up on the canvas. But that doesn’t justify three rounds of avoiding any type of meaningful engagement with your opponent. Although, to be fair to __________, his opponent wasn’t exactly chasing him around like Nate Quarry. 

This was supposed to be a coming out party for __________, and did he ever waste it. His performance doesn’t warrant a step up in competition. It doesn’t warrant a spot in the main event in the near future. Rather, it just further exposed the flaws in his game that detractors have been quick to point out. If you’re still on The  __________ Bandwagon, stretch out. You’ve got plenty of room to do so.

*No, I’m not including Renan Barao vs. Urijah Faber. Yes, the fans were quick to boo, but at that point it was mostly out of instinct. Watch the fight again if you don’t believe me. Sure, it wasn’t exactly Torres vs. Mizugaki, but it was a solid showcase from both fighters. In the end, the bout proved exactly what we already knew: Urijah can’t check a leg kick, he’s been choking in title fights ever since losing the WEC Featherweight Championship to Mike Brown (seriously, he’s 0-5 in his last five title fights. Eat your heart out, KenFlo.), and a guy doesn’t go thirty fights without a loss unless he’s a special talent.

Chris Clements also gets a pass. Sure, he didn’t go out and win, but Matt Riddle was just the better man last night. Sometimes that happens in MMA.

**For what it’s worth, Boetsch injured himself in the second round of his fight last night. Not that he looked amazing up until that point in the fight, but it’s worth pointing out.

Two more things: Fight of the Night went to Bryan Caraway and Mitch Gagnon for their highly entertaining battle that kicked off the prelims on FX. It was pretty much all downhill from there. And knockout of the night? Former Cagepotato.com contributor Ryan Jimmo. Seven seconds. Bitches.

Full Results:

Main Card:

Renan Barao def. Urijah Faber via unanimous decision
Tim Boetsch def. Hector Lombard via split decision
Cheick Kongo def. Shawn Jordan via unanimous decision
James Head def. Brian Ebersole via split decision
Matt Riddle def. Chris Clements via submission (arm- triangle choke), 2:02 of Round Three

Preliminary Card:

Nick Ring def. Court McGee via unanimous decision
Francisco Rivera def. Roland Delorme via KO (punch), 4:19 of Round One
Ryan Jimmo def. Anthony Perosh via KO (punch), 0:07 of Round One
Bryan Caraway def. Mitch Gagnon via submission (rear-naked choke), 1:39 of Round Three
Antonio Carvalho def. Daniel Pineda via KO (punches), 1:11 of Round One
Anton Kuivanen def. Mitch Clarke via split decision

@SethFalvo

UFC 149 Results: Why We Expected so Much More from Lombard vs. Boetsch

Like a lot of other MMA fans, I was looking forward to Hector “Lightning” Lombard’s octagon debut as much as any other fight on the card at UFC 149. And like many of those fans, I walked away from the co-main event between Lombard and Tim Boetsch…

Like a lot of other MMA fans, I was looking forward to Hector “Lightning” Lombard’s octagon debut as much as any other fight on the card at UFC 149. And like many of those fans, I walked away from the co-main event between Lombard and Tim Boetsch with a bitter taste in my mouth.

After watching Boetsch control the fight with nothing but movement and a couple dozen leg kicks, fans were left wondering exactly what happened to the Hector Lombard we had grown accustomed to seeing.

The usually aggressive and entertaining Lombard looked like a deer in headlights for the entirety of the fight. He stood flat-footed and sat back and waited to counter with one big punch, confusing a ton of fans who thought he was one of the few real tests left for Anderson Silva.

By the end of the fight, it was apparent that Lombard had suffered one of the worst cases of UFC jitters in recent memory. But it still didn’t leave anyone feeling any better about an extremely lackluster bout.

Due to the massive amount of hype Lombard had behind him, fans were expecting a war and an impressive performance out of Lightning. And anyone who’s seen him fight over the last few years had to have been shocked at the utter lack of action on Lombard’s part last night.

Expectations weren’t raised for Lombard’s UFC debut, fans just anticipated that the former Bellator champion would come out and fight the way he always does. When he fought as timid as he did, it let a lot of people down.

It may seem like too much of the blame is falling on Lombard here, but to be fair, he deserves the majority of the backlash.

Boetsch fought a perfect fight, staying out of Lombard’s range and giving him minimal opportunities to counter with his explosive power. In short, Boetsch did exactly what he needed to do to win, and Lombard obviously was unable to do the same.

Is it possible we expected too much out of Lombard? Maybe. But we should have gotten a better fight than we did.

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UFC 149 Results: Is Hector Lombard a Legit UFC Contender After Tim Boetsch Loss?

Heading into his co-main event of UFC 149 against Tim Boetsch, Hector “Lightning” Lombard was being heralded as the man to dethrone or at least give 185-pound linchpin Anderson Silva a run for his money.Yeah right.A legitimate threat to &ld…

Heading into his co-main event of UFC 149 against Tim Boetsch, Hector “Lightning” Lombard was being heralded as the man to dethrone or at least give 185-pound linchpin Anderson Silva a run for his money.

Yeah right.

A legitimate threat to “The Spider” he ain’t; hell, on his latest showing (a split-decision loss to “The Barbarian”), Lombard isn’t even a bona fide contender in the middleweight ranks.

The pomp, pageantry and promise that followed the former Bellator 185-pound titlist into the Zuffa-based promotion was superseded by a ponderous and pedestrian display that can only be defined as an absolute disappointment.

MMA conspiracy theories? We’ve heard them all before—Octagon jitters, adrenalin dump, undisclosed injury, etc. Still, not to perform on the biggest stage of them all is tantamount to career suicide.

Lombard’s UFC debut was meant to be explosive (power punching), electrifying (Richter-scale-esque finishing), but more importantly to send a message to the rest of the would-be contenders.

Instead he was made to look ordinary against a guy whose chances of vying for the title anytime soon are nonexistent.

This guy brought a 25-fight undefeated streak to the mix, 17 knockouts and a hellish reputation to boot. Seriously?

If that same Lombard stepped into the Octagon with Silva, the Brazilian would be charged with grievous bodily harm or worse.

The assumed upshot for Lombard is the fact the middleweight division is lacking in depth, therefore two or more impressive wins should supposedly propel him into title contention.

That’s wishful thinking because now there must be serious reservations as to how he’d fare against the likes of Vitor Belfort, Brian Stann, Chris Weidman, Alan Belcher and Michael Bisping. Expect the latter to say I told you so.

Oh yeah, Mark Munoz?

The 34-year-old Judoka was willing to kick a title shot and Anderson Silva money to the curb in favor of a bagarre-settling score with Weidman’s victim.

He wants Munoz? Well he can have him on a bronze platter (gold is reserved for elitist combatants). However, apropos his latest outing, I doubt “The Filipino Wrecking Machine” will be quaking in his boots.

At present, nothing suggests the Cuban can cut it with the UFC’s upper-echelon fighters, and that’s the long story short.

If ever there were a synonym for Hector Lombard then it has to be Public Enemies hit single “Don’t Believe The Hype.”

 

For additional information, follow Nedu Obi on Twitter.

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