Lincolnville native Tim Boetsch scored an important victory in his mixed martial arts career Wednesday night with a second-round technical knockout of Josh Samman in their middleweight bout on the main card of UFC Fight Night 91 in Sioux Falls, South Dakota.
The fight was telecast live on FS1.
Boetsch, now 19-10, entered the fight on a three-match losing streak and needing a victory to quell rumors that his spot on the Ultimate Fighting Championship roster was in jeopardy.
Despite holding a 3-inch height advantage over the 6-foot Boetsch, Samman tried to grapple with the former four-time state wrestling champion from Camden-Rockport High School.
Boetsch more than held his own wrestling against the Floridian, and used his striking game to assert more and more control as the fight progressed.
Cageside observers were split on who won the first round, but Boetsch became more dominant in the second of the scheduled three rounds and finally finished Samman off with a succession of strikes.
Referee John McCarthy stopped the contest at 3:49 of the second round as Boetsch improved his UFC record to 10-9.
The card at the the Denny Sanford Premier Center in Sioux Falls was the first for the UFC in South Dakota.
Two years ago the UFC came to Maine for the first time, and with Boetsch in a similar win-or-else situation the native Mainer scored a stunning second-round TKO over Brad Tavares at Bangor’s Cross Insurance Center.
But Boetsch had not won since his return to Maine in August 2014, with consecutive losses to Thales Laites by second-round submission at UFC 183 in Las Vegas, Nevada, on Jan. 31, 2015; Dan Henderson by one-punch knockout 28 seconds into their main event in New Orleans, Louisiana, on June 6, 2015; and Ed Herman by second-round knockout (knee) this past Jan. 17 in Boston, Massachusetts, leaving “The Barbarian’s” UFC status in a perilous position.
