The first three televised bouts are in the books for UFC Boston. Check out who picked up victories and who wasn’t quite as lucky.
UFC Fight Night 81 is full of finishes. Well, the televised portion is anyway. The first three fights on Fox Sports 1 all ended before the final horn – and here’s how it all went down.
Ed Herman defeated Tim Boetsch by TKO (knee and punches), 1:39 of round two
This fight took place at 205, and it showed. Both men weren’t quite as spry as usual, but Boetsch did back Herman up with a couple of big shots in the first round. Herman made him pay in the second though, catching Boetsch with a picture-perfect knee that sent him to the mat and followed it up with some punches to get the TKO victory. Check out the video of the finish below.
Ed Herman knocks Tim Boetsch out with a DEVASTATING knee to the face. Ouch. #UFCBoston https://t.co/WbOwJKaKIh
— FOX Sports: UFC (@UFCONFOX) January 18, 2016
Chris Wade defeated Mehdi Baghdad by submission (rear naked choke), 4:30 of round one
This one was all Wade. He secured an early takedown and worked from the top for the entire fight, grinding away and wearing down his opponent with strikes. Eventually he was able to get a hook and lock up a choke, which earned him the dominant victory. Baghdad had taken the bout on just a few days notice. The win was Wade’s fourth in a row in the UFC.
Luke Sanders defeated Maximo Blanco by submission (rear naked choke), 3:38 of round one
Sanders was another late replacement for this card, and he made the most of it. Blanco fought wild as usual, jumping in with hard strikes but leaving himself wide open in doing so. Sanders dropped him once briefly on a counter, but Blanco got up and took Sanders down, quickly getting to mount and securing an arm-triangle choke. Sanders escaped though, and dropped Blanco again not long after that. This time Sanders jumped on him, took his back and made him tap to a rear naked choke.