Though one-time middleweight title challenger Thales Leites defeated Tim “The Barbarian” Boetsch at UFC 183, the Nova Uniao staple’s face told the real story.
Leites won his second straight Performance of the Night bonus following his gritty second-round arm-triangle finish over Boetsch.
Leites submitted The Barbarian to earn his fifth straight Octagon victory and his eighth win in a row. The pair engaged in a back-and-forth stand-up battle in the first frame before Boetsch began to gain confidence throwing his right hand.
Boetsch’s power triumphed over the Brazilian’s for the entirety of the fight, which led to an eventual takedown by Leites. From there, the 34-year-old Boetsch was stranded in Leites’ world.
The 33-year-old Leites achieved the mount quickly. He failed on his initial arm-triangle attempt but made good on his second try. For that, he walked away with two post-fight bonuses and an extra $100,000 in his wallet, according to Fight Corner‘s Heidi Fang.
Leites’ victory puts him on track to receive a top-10 opponent with his next venture into the cage, as he has now finished his last three opponents in the second round or sooner. Since his release from the UFC in 2009, the Brazilian has amassed an 11-1 record.
The win over Boetsch is also Leites’ third by arm triangle during that span.
Though his hands weren’t capable of dispatching the durable wrestler, Leites has made great strides in the striking department. Early in his Octagon career, he would fall back on the strength of his Brazilian jiu-jitsu black belt, failing to take the next step in other phases of his offense.
Lackluster losses to former middleweight champion Anderson Silva and Alessio Sakara led to his Octagon dismissal.
His 45-second TKO of Trevor Smith at UFC Fight Night: Abu Dhabi was the culmination of something special brewing within the confines of the esteemed Nova Uniao camp. Andre Pederneiras, the team’s head coach, saw a gap in the middleweight’s game.
“Sometimes during a fight when I hit my opponents strong and they feel my punch, I was going to take them down,” Leites told UFC.com in August. “He (Pederneiras) came to me and said ‘Thales, you have heavy hands; when you hit your opponent, move forward and try to knock him out.'”
Prior to his Octagon days, Leites defeated only two men via knockout. In 2014, he scored two quick knockout wins. Of his eight victories in a row, only three have gone to a decision.
Leites also avenged his lone loss to UFC/Bellator veteran Matt Horwich during the span since his initial departure, submitting him with an arm triangle in the second round.
His stagnancy in the stand-up aspect of his repertoire plagued him in 2009 bouts against Silva and Sakara. Now, Leites is ready and willing to trade with the brutes of the 185-pound division.
“I’m a jiu-jitsu fighter and I’ll always represent Brazilian jiu-jitsu,” said Leites. “But this is MMA and you have to be ready for every situation. The feeling of the knockout is great, but the submission, for me, is wonderful.”
Leites made a wonderful change to his approach coming out of his corner in the second round against The Barbarian. After failing to best Boetsch on the feet, the BJJ black belt completed a takedown and did what he does best by finding a choke.
His takedown defense probably isn’t where it needs to be. His striking may still be relatively green compared to middleweights Lyoto Machida and Luke Rockhold, but there’s no holding back the ever-improving Leites.
Al Iaquinta might have just scored the biggest win of his budding Octagon career and survived an onslaught of offense from Joe Lauzon, but his 6-2 record pales in comparison to the roll Leites is on.
It’s time for UFC matchmakers Joe Silva and Sean Shelby to turn Leites loose on the division’s best.
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