Brazilian Thales Leites scored a second-round stoppage of Lincolnville native Tim Boetsch in their UFC 183 mixed arts bout held Saturday night before a crowd of 13,114 at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada.
Longtime former middleweight champion Anderson Silva won the UFC 183 main event, scoring a unanimous decision victory over Nick Diaz. Silva was fighting for the first time in more than a year since suffering a broken leg during a title-fight loss to Chris Weidman.
The Boetsch-Leites bout, also part of the UFC 183 main card, was action packed from the start.
Both middleweights came out throwing heavy-handed strikes, with Boetsch winning a close first round by scoring a knockdown of Leites during the final 30 seconds of the period.
The 34-year-old Boetsch, who trains out of Marcus Davis’ Team Irish MMA Fitness Academy in Brewer, opened the second round by landing several right hooks that staggered Leites.
But the Brazilian soon resorted to his jiu-jitsu roots and took the battle to the ground, nearly submitting Boetsch with an arm triangle choke hold. Boetsch escaped that initial attempt, but Leites maintained top position and eventually locked in a second arm triangle.
This time Boetsch couldn’t escape, and the fight was stopped at 3:45 of the second round.
The bout earned Fight of the Night honors, with Boetsch and Leites each receiving a $50,000 bonus. Leites earned an additional $50,000 Performance of the Night bonus.
The win was the eighth straight for Leites and fifth consecutive since he returned to the Ultimate Fighting Championship in 2013. Leites, who entered the fight ranked 11th among UFC middleweights, is now 25-4 overall.
Boetsch, who was coming off a second-round stoppage of Brad Tavares at UFC Fight Night 47 in August before a home crowd at the Cross Insurance Center in Bangor, fell to 18-8 as a professional.
Boetsch was ranked 13th among UFC middleweights entering his fight with Leites.
Two other fighters who were coming off victories on the Bangor card suffered losses during the UFC 183 undercard. Third-ranked bantamweight contender Sara McMann lost a three-round majority decision to second-ranked Miesha Tate, while middleweight Tom “Kong” Watson dropped a three-round unanimous decision to Rafael Natal.
Boutin drops title bout
Trescott native Crowsneck Boutin, now training out of the Choi Institute in Portland, fell short Friday night in his bid to win the Combat Zone amateur light heavyweight (205-pound) championship.
Xavier Vargas of Plaistow, New Hampshire, defeated Boutin to win the title with a technical knockout via strikes at 1:33 of the third and final round as part of the CZ52 card held at Rockingham Park in Salem, New Hampshire.
Vargas improved his record to 4-2 with the win, while Boutin fell to 6-7 after having his three-fight winning streak halted.
