The sigh of relief could be heard from the Great Plains to the East Coast late Wednesday evening after Lincolnville native Tim Boetsch scored a second-round technical knockout of Josh Samman on the main card of UFC Fight Night 91 in Sioux Falls, South Dakota.
The 35-year-old Boetsch, coming off three consecutive mixed martial arts losses, was seen as being in jeopardy of losing his Ultimate Fighting Championship roster spot with another defeat. But he used the wrestling skills he learned as a four-time state champion at Camden-Rockport High School and at Lock Haven University to help set up a series of fight-ending strikes that sent Samman to the first knockout loss of his career.
“It was very important,” said Boetsch, who now lives in Sunbury, Pennsylvania, to the FS1 television audience after the fight. “I wanted to have a job tomorrow.”
Boetsch is now 19-10 overall, 10-9 in a UFC career that began in 2008. Samman falls to 12-5, 3-2 in the UFC after his second straight defeat.
“It makes me feel good that I could get back in there and execute the gameplan the way I wanted to and have things go the way they’re supposed to in a fight for a change, because it certainly hasn’t been that way in the recent past,” said Boetsch of his first victory since a second-round TKO of Brad Tavares at the Cross Insurance Center in Bangor on Aug. 16, 2014.
“It’s definitely good to get back in the win column and I plan on staying there.”
The 28-year-old Samman entered the Octagon with a three-inch height advantage over the 6-foot Boetsch for this middleweight clash, leaving most experts to believe that the Tallahassee, Florida, product would try to keep his distance from the Mainer in order to create space for his strikes and head kicks.
But Samman attempted a takedown almost immediately after the fight started, and when that was foiled he opted to engage in a close-range grappling battle, just the way the fighter known as “The Barbarian” wanted it.
“I thought he was going to use his distance a little bit better and not initiate the clinch so much,” said Boetsch. “But when he did I was more than happy to go that route. I actually played it a little slow leaning against the cage and I could feel him working really hard, and I knew it was just a matter of time before I got the position I wanted.”
Boetsch scored the only two takedowns of the match, with the second takedown — after grabbing a Samman kick in mid-flight — early in the second round leading to the stoppage.
Boetsch eventually pinned Samman against the cage and worked on his opponent’s left arm and shoulder while patiently waiting for opportunities to land damaging fists and elbows.
“[Trainer] Marcus [Davis] and I have been working a lot on that specific position,” said Boetsch. “We knew we could get him there. I knew if I could get him against the cage I could finish the fight there, and sure enough that’s how it played out.”
Boetsch eventually was able to shift positions, enabling him to land a succession of strikes that prompted referee John McCarthy to stop the contest at 3:49 of the second round.
“I felt myself starting to get pretty excited,” said Boetsch, “but I took a second to calm down and started picking my shots and those were the ones that were landing and doing the damage.”
The fight was a return to the middleweight division for Boetsch after falling to Ed Herman in Boston this past January in a light-heavyweight (205-pound) matchup.
For Boetsch, who had risen to a top-five ranking among UFC 185-pounders four years ago after a four-fight winning streak in that division, there will be no changing weight classes again.
The card at the the Denny Sanford Premier Center in Sioux Falls was the first for the UFC in South Dakota.
