(Fun fact: This is the second most re-used photo of Henderson in CagePotato history, next to…well, you know.)
The fallout from Jon Jones’ game of real-life GTA has been well documented at this point. A champion lost his title. A(nother) UFC card lost its original main event. Dana White lost what final strands of hair he could possibly grow. But really, the guy who’s been most screwed over by Jones’ antics is none other than one of his former opponents: Ryan Bader.
You see, Ryan Bader was all set to face Daniel Cormier in the main event of Fight Night 68 (aka Fight Night NOLA) in June. It was a fight that “Darth” would have not only won without breaking a sweat, but one that would have made him the light heavyweight division’s clear #1 contender and set up a rematch with Jones, which again, is a fight he would have come out from practically unscathed. LALALALALA CAN’T HEAR YOU!!!!
But now thanks to Bones’ inability to call an Uber, Bader’s originally scheduled opponent for Fight Night 68 has been scooped up to face Anthony Johnson for the now vacant title at UFC 187. Bader, on the other hand, has been scratched from Fight Night 68 altogether. I can think of no greater injustice in recent memory that even compares to the situation poor, poor Ryan Bader has put in. Other than, you know, the pregnant woman whose vehicle was struck by a famous mixed martial artist…who then proceeded to flee with no regard for her well-being.
In any case, Bader is out, and the new Fight Night NOLA headliner is…
Dan Henderson vs. Tim Boetsch. You probably could have surmised that by reading the headline.
Originally scheduled as the evening’s co-main event, Henderson and Boetsch will now headline Fight Night 68 in a classic battle of “Two old white dudes swingin’ them bungalows.” Both men have dropped 5 out of their last 7 fights, with Henderson riding a two-fight skid into the June 6th scheduled card. Boetsch, on the other hand, last dropped a second round submission to Thales Leites in a “Fight of the Night” earning affair.
Really, it would be easy to mock this matchup as yet another sign of the UFC stretching itself too thin. I, on the other hand, am choosing to embrace this fight 110%. Think about it, the last time Henderson rode a two-fight skid into a main event, well, he got KO’d by Vitor Belfort in under a minute and a half. BUT AFTER THAT, he knocked out Mauricio Rua in what was undeniably the greatest comeback victory of 2014 and possibly ever. And let us not forget that Boetsch once did this to a human being of comparable size…
Brutiful. Absolutely brutiful.
So yeah, Fight Night 68 isn’t what it once was, but then again, neither is Hendo or The Barbarian. So by the law of multiplying negatives, I do declare that this new main event should be a hell of a scrap!
The post Dan Henderson vs. Tim Boetsch Now Headlines Fight Night NOLA, With Ryan Bader Scratched Altogether appeared first on Cagepotato.