When Chael Sonnen steps into the Octagon to challenge Anderson Silva for the UFC title, middleweight contender Tim Boetsch will be pulling for “The Spider” in hopes of one day receiving an opportunity of his own to dethrone the pound-for-pound juggernaut.
In an interview on the Sherdog Radio Network’s “Beatdown” show, Boetsch gave his thoughts on how he matches up with the UFC champion.
Chael showed a strong wrestler does well against him. The only thing that Chael failed to do was damage Anderson throughout the fight, and that’s kind of my specialty. I will deliver a high amount of damage from start to finish, and that would make a huge difference in the outcome of the fight.
Since dropping to middleweight, Boetsch has been flawless in ousting Kendall Grove, Nick Ring and former UFC title contender Yushin Okami.
The win over Okami at UFC 144, where he rallied from a two-round deficit to net the third-round knockout, was easily the biggest of Boetsch’s career.
Now, he is a top-10 middleweight contender, and in a division starving for fresh title contenders, “The Barbarian” isn’t far off in his title aspirations.
A lot of fighters out there are [scared of Silva]. They think of him as an invincible superhero. If you’re thinking that way about your opponent, you’ve already lost. I think that’s what happens to a lot of guys. They lose that fight before they even get in the cage with him.
Silva’s reign of terror has lasted nearly six years in the UFC. In all that time, no fighter has been able to stop him, but in August 2010, Sonnen gave others hope when there wasn’t any.
After months of trash talk, Sonnen backed up his words with a dominant performance against the champ for four-and-a-half rounds, but unfortunately for the Oregon native, he wasn’t able to seal the deal against Silva, who came from behind in dramatic fashion with a submission late in the fifth round.
Sonnen will get an opportunity to redeem himself in the title rematch rumored for June 29, and Boetsch will be sitting quietly on the sidelines hoping another monumental upset is averted.
I want Anderson to hold onto that belt until I get there. He is obviously a legend in the sport already. That being said, everybody has to lose eventually, and I want to be the guy to take that belt from him. That’s been a dream of mine for a long time.
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