Lincolnville native Tim “The Barbarian” Boetsch hopes another bout in the Northeast will produce another change in career momentum when he battles Ed “Short Fuse” Herman as part of UFC Fight Night 81 set for the TD Garden in Boston on Jan. 17.
The Boetsch-Herman fight will be part of a main card headlined by T.J. Dillashaw defending his UFC bantamweight title against former champion Dominick Cruz.
The card, to be televised by Fox Sports 1, also will feature former UFC lightweight champion Anthony Pettis against Eddie Alvarez and a clash of ranked heavyweights between No. 5 Travis Browne and No. 13 Matt Mitrione.
The four main-event bouts were announced Wednesday night.
The 34-year-old Boetsch (18-9) is coming off a first-round loss to Dan Henderson in New Orleans last June, and needs a victory over Herman to reverse a trend in which the veteran middleweight has dropped three of his last four bouts.
The former four-time wrestling state champion from Camden-Rockport High School in Rockport — whose last eight opponents all have been ranked — reversed an earlier stretch of three losses in four fights by stopping Brad Tavares in the second round of their bout in August 2014 at the Cross Insurance Center in Bangor.
That was Boetsch’s first fight training under former UFC contender Marcus Davis at the Team Irish MMA Fitness Academy in Brewer, and with that win he earned a $50,000 performance of the night bonus.
Boetsch went on to earn a second straight $50,000 bonus for fight of the night in his second-round loss to Thales Leites at UFC 183 in Las Vegas, Nevada, on Jan. 31 before being stunned by a thunderous right hand from the 12th-ranked Henderson that brought his most recent fight to an end just 28 seconds into the opening round.
Herman (22-11-1) also has struggled of late, losing two of his last three fights and three of his last five contests.
The 34-year-old veteran from Portland, Oregon, who has fought professionally since 2003, last fought at UFC 183, where he suffered a first-round loss to 13th-ranked Derek Brunson.
Sanders seeks Toe2Toe title
Etna native “The” Ryan Sanders will fight for a championship at the Portland Exposition Building on Saturday night when he takes on Lucas Cruz in the main event of Toe2Toe III.
Sanders (8-7) has fought most of his professional bouts as a welterweight, but will be dropping from 170 pounds to battle Cruz for the vacant T2T lightweight (155-pound) crown.
Sanders is no stranger to championship fights, having lost a grueling five-round unanimous decision to Gil de Freitas in their New England Fights welterweight title matchup on May 10, 2014.
Sanders has won two of his last three bouts, most recently defeating Regiclaudio Macedo by second-round guillotine choke at T2T II in Portland on May 9.
The Boston, Massachusetts-based Cruz is 7-3 but has dropped three of his last four fights, including a split-decision loss to Julian Lane in his most recent fight Jan. 30 at Lincoln, Rhode Island.
