The “Barbarian” will be back in the Octagon after all.
Lincolnville native Tim Boetsch, a veteran of 21 fights with the Ultimate Fighting Championship, is set to face former welterweight champion Johny Hendricks in a middleweight clash on Sunday, June 25, as part of UFC Fight Night 112 in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma.
Boetsch, the former four-time Maine high school wrestling champion from Camden-Rockport High School in Rockport who is ranked 15th among UFC middleweights, has won two of his last three fights but is coming off a first-round loss to Ronaldo “Jacare” Souza at UFC 208 on Feb. 11 in New York.
His fight against the third-ranked Souza — taken on just five weeks notice — was the final bout of Boetsch’s UFC contract at the time. Since then he has agreed to a new deal with the promotion that set the stage for this intriguing battle against Hendricks.
Boetsch (20-11 overall, 11-10 UFC) has shifted between the 185-pound middleweight division and the 205-pound light heavyweight division during his career.
Hendricks (18-6 overall, 13-6 UFC) has fought largely in the 170-pound welterweight ranks, including three UFC title fights. He lost by split decision to former champion Georges St.-Pierre at UFC 167 on Nov. 16, 2013, but defeated Robbie Lawler to win the belt then vacated by St.-Pierre at UFC 171 on March 15, 2014.
The 33-year-old Hendricks, an Ada, Oklahoma product, lost the title by split decision to Lawler in their rematch at UFC 181 on Dec. 6, 2014.
Hendricks has struggled since then to make weight as a welterweight and suffered consecutive losses to Stephen “Wonderboy” Thompson, Kelvin Gastelum and Neil Magny. He made a successful middleweight debut with a unanimous decision victory over Hector Lombard in his most recent bout on Feb. 19 at Halifax, Nova Scotia.
Boetsch, 36, holds a victory over Lombard, by split decision at UFC 149 in 2012.
Boetsch went 2-1 in 2016, initially dropping a one-fight return to the light-heavyweight ranks to Ed Herman by second-round technical knockout during UFC Fight Night 81 on Jan. 17 in Boston.
The Sunbury, Pennsylvania, resident went back to the middleweight ranks and scored back-to-back stoppages over Josh Samman and 13th-ranked Rafael Natal. Boetsch defeated Samman by second-round TKO at UFC Fight Night 91 held last July at Sioux Falls, South Dakota, then scored a first-round TKO over Natal at UFC 205 — the promotion’s first card at Madison Square Garden in New York City — on Nov. 12.
NEF plans women’s title fight
Maine-based New England Fights will hold its first women’s championship bout on April 29 as part of its NEF 28 show at the Androscoggin Bank Colisee in Lewiston.
That fight will match Floridian Jessica “The Black Widow” Borga (5-2) against “Scary” Kerri Kenneson (4-1) of Bow, New Hampshire, to crown the first NEF MMA amateur women’s bantamweight (135-pound) champion.
“Our women’s division has grown so much in the past couple of years,” said NEF co-owner and promoter Nick DiSalvo. “It was time to add a title picture to the mix. This is the first of what we hope to be many female title fights between superior athletes in the NEF cage.”
Borga, the holder of two regional titles in her home state, will be making her third appearance in the NEF cage in less than a year. She dropped a decision to Rachael Joyce last September, then returned to Maine in November to win by decision over Brianne Genschel.
Kenneson, who trains with Team Link in Hooksett, New Hampshire, has won her last four fights since dropping her MMA debut nearly two years ago.
