Coming off of the biggest win of his career versus Yushin Okami, Tim “The Barbarian” Boetsch is now scheduled to take on Michael “The Count” Bisping at UFC 148 in Las Vegas.
UFC officials confirmed the fight through MMAweekly.com earlier today. It came after another middleweight matchup between Cung Le and Rich Franklin was also announced for the same card.
Boetsch was last seen overcoming his biggest challenge in Okami at UFC 144 in Japan. Many saw Boetsch as a massive underdog, and the fight appeared to solidify that position for the better part of two rounds as he was dominated by the superior grappler in Okami.
Boetsch entered the third with a stoppage on his mind and knocked out the former title challenger with a series of brutal uppercuts.
After the fight, Boetsch was interviewed by Full Contact Fighter on who he would like to fight next, and he hinted at a possible fight versus Bisping, someone who he had been wanting to fight for a while.
Both Boetsch and Bisping have competed at the light-heavyweight division before dropping to middleweight, so this is a fight that very well could have taken place at any time in both fighters’ UFC careers.
Bisping comes into the fight with a 22-4 record. He was last seen losing to Chael Sonnen at UFC on Fox 2, but many fans thought he could have been awarded the decision. All three judges leaned towards Sonnen to set up the rematch between him and reigning champion Anderson Silva this summer.
Boetsch is 15-4 and currently riding a three-fight win streak since moving to the 185-pound division.
His wins include those over Okami, Nick Ring and Kendall Grove.
A title shot may not be on the line for this fight, but it is definitely one that will give the winner a possible chance to be in a No. 1 contender’s match.
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