For much of his bout tonight at UFC Fight Night 47 Brad Tavares looked to be very much in control, but out of nowhere mid-way through the second round Tim Boetsch dropped him twice in the space of 10 seconds to earn a much needed TKO victory.
Round One:
Boetsch in on an early takedown, but Tavares stuffs it and presses him up against the cage. Knee to the midsection from Boetsch and then goes for a judo throw, but Tavares shows good balance to stay upright.
They break apart and circle each other cautiously. Boetsch again tries for the takedown and again it’s stuffed. This time it’s Boetsch who opts for the clinch against the cage and lands a big foot stomp before Tavares reverses the position.
Nice elbow upstairs from Tavares and he opens up a cut to the left side of his opponents face. He lands another good right elbow.
They break apart again. Tavares landing the more accurate punches here. Boetsch catches Tavares off-balance and gets the takedown he’s been looking for. He tries to lands some strikes, but Tavares manages to scramble back up and before long he has Tavares back and presses him up against the cage.
Boetsch is partly bent over with his side against the fence as Tavares remains latched to his back and lands repeated knees until the end of the round.
—
Round Two:
Nice straight punches from Tavares to start the second and gets into the clinch against the cage again. More blood leaking from Boetsch’s face now.
Straight punches working well for Tavares and brushes aside another takedown attempt. Boetsch lunges in with a punch and another takedown attempt, but it’s just not come together so far for him tonight and Tavares remains on his feet and back into the clinch.
Tavares with a good jab and then a short combination, but then in the blink of an eye it’s Boetsch who’s suddenly very much in the ascendancy as a left hook connects to his opponents chin and drops him.
To his credit Tavares gets right back up, but he’s still clearing the cobwebs as Boetsch presses forward and lands another shot to the jaw that topples Tavares to the canvas. Boetsch stands over him and unleashes a few more punches and that’s a wrap, ‘The Barbarian’ gets the TKO stoppage at 3.18mins of the second round.
Boetsch was staring down the barrel of his fourth loss in five fights there, but in the space of about 10 seconds he completely turned things around and picked up a huge victory.
You’ve got to feel for Tavares there though as up until that moment he had been producing an excellent performance.
