Tim Boetsch - The Replacement Killer

Before UFC 81, many people - including myself - had never heard of Tim Boetsch before. The unknown fighter from Sunbury, Pennsylvania was a late replacement for Tomasz Drwal to take on David Heath in a light heavyweight matchup. Ten days notice was all that was given to Boetsch, but for a chance to fight in the UFC, it was not something he was about to turn down.

Apparently this man had a deep dark secret that we was dying to let out - he is a beast, a bull looking to run through whoever and whatever stands in his way.

His performance at UFC 81 was one of, if not THE most exciting of the night. Like I said before, I had never seen Tim Boetsch compete before this fight, but what I witnessed in his UFC debut was absolute dominance. I don't think I've ever seen a fighter use push kicks as an offensive tactic before and use it so effectively and so consistently.

Perhaps it was the lack of notice and lack of preparation for a fighter who was virtually unknown, but Heath's inability to defend against the push kicks is what eventually led to his knockout defeat. The one thing that was known about Boetsch was that he was a wrestler so I'm sure Heath prepared his game plan for that of a wrestler and not for a Jeet Kune Do student.

Well, Boetsch Jeet Kune Do'ed the snot out of Heath. With each push kick, Boetsch seemed to gain more confidence as he realized that Heath had no answers for the push kicks - a tactic used in many martial arts to create distance between you and your opponent when you find yourself in trouble. In the closing seconds of round one, Heath was able to close the distance on Boetsch but like I said, Tim Boetsch is a bull and would have none of Heath and tossed him on his head in a move reminiscent of the seniors at Wal-Mart during the year-end clearance sales.

Heath didn't put his hands out to protect himself from the throw and landed face first on the mat. Heath was knocked out on impact. The follow up barrage was just a formality and the fight was stopped at 4:52 of the first round.

With a performance like that, it didn't take long for the UFC to call on Boetsch once again to step back inside the Octagon.

Stephan Bonnar was to face Matt Hamill at UFC Fight Night on April 2nd in Colorado, but had to pull out due to injury. So enter Tim Boetsch. Fresh off his dominant victory over Heath, Boetsch will waste no time getting back into the Octagon to face Matt Hamill. Hamill is an excellent wrestler with alot of power and will have plenty of time to prepare for a fighter like Boetsch, a luxury that David Heath didn't have. It will be interesting to see how this fight plays out. It would be safe to say that Hamill will be looking to put Boetsch on his back and pound him out and that Boetsch will be looking to use those push kicks once again to keep Hamill from closing the distance to set up the takedown. Let's not forget that Boetsch, too, is a wrestler and might have good takedown defense. Hamill not only has great wrestling skills, but showed incredible improvement in his standup in his fight with Michael Bisping. I still know too little about Boetsch at this point to make any sort of prediction on what will happen in this fight, but either way it's still exciting to see Larry The Cable Guy, I mean Tim Boetsch, fight inside the Octagon.

I did some research on Tim Boetsch and here's a few things I've come up with:

- He is 7 - 1 in MMA.
- His only loss was a unanimous decision to Vladimir Matyushenko in the IFL.
- 5 of his 7 wins were in round 1.
- All of his wins came inside the distance.

Hamill will be a very tough test for Boetsch and we will find out on April 2nd whether or not his pummelling of David Heath was a fluke. If Boetsch upsets Hamill, then he might want to adopt the moniker "The Replacement Killer".