After his huge upset win over former title challenger Yushin Okami at UFC 144 in Japan, UFC middleweight contender Tim Boetsch (15-4) has no plans of stopping his win streak, while merging closer to a title shot with possibly the best fighter of all time.
“The Barbarian” moved to the middleweight division in 2011, after a loss to Phil Davis at light-heavyweight, and has now knocked off three fighters, including Okami, Nick Ring and Kendall Grove.
In a recent interview with Full Contact Fighter, Boetsch claims he feels like he hits harder at middleweight than he did at 205 pounds. With only two knockout wins in his last nine fights, Boetsch believes fans forgot just how capable he is of knocking his opponents out.
His power was evident in the Okami fight, and after being dominated for the better part of the first two rounds, he pressured the Japanese fighter in the third and stopped him with less than a minute into the round with a brutal barrage of uppercuts.
Now, it’s just a question of who’s next.
“I’d like to think my next fight will be against whoever’s next in line to determine who will face the winner of the Anderson Silva vs. Chael Sonnen fight,” Boetsch said. “Definitely, I’d like to take on a top-three fighter.”
“Bisping’s name has been on my agenda for a long time,” he continued. “Even back when we were at light heavyweight, he was someone I wanted to fight.”
Bisping recently dropped a unanimous decision to consensus No. 2 middleweight fighter Chael Sonnen at UFC on Fox 2. It was a fight that many people thought the British fighter had won, but the judges went the other way and set up arguably the biggest rematch in UFC history between Sonnen and Silva.
“I think he did a heck of a job against Chael and he’s certainly up there as a contender,” Boetsch said. “It will be interesting to see who they come with, and whoever they do, I’ll be ready.”
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