UFC 149: Tim Boetsch defeats Hector Lombard by Split-Decision

Tim Boetsch, remains undefeated in his drop to the Middleweight division with a split-decision victory over former Bellator Middleweight Champion Hector Lombard. Lombard went in riding a 25-fight win streak and was making one of the the most highly anticipated UFC debuts in a long time. For whatever reason, be it “UFC jitters” or something else, he fought defensively from a distance. While Boetsch continually nailed him with counter-attacks. Yet, the whole time, neither went in for the “finish”. As UFC President Dana White said at the post-fight press conference: “The fight was horrible.””

The first round was mostly failed takedowns and the occassional kick or hook fired at Lombard. In the second round, while still lackluster, Lombard was more aggressive and even nailed Boetsch with a liver kick. Round three offered almost nothing but jeers from the crowd, a late takedown that went nowhere by Lombard and slightly more strikes on Boetsch’s part.

Going to the judges, the bout was scored for Boetsch: 29-28, 28-29 and 29-28 via split-decision.

In a post fight interview, Boetsch said: “I was glad to give him his first loss, although I wasn’t too thrilled with how things went. I landed a few strikes. My foot is a testiment to that. Hector is heavy handed and a tough fighter. He is going to beat up a lot of guys and put on a lot of good fights in the UFC. He’s a power striker, but I knew that and was able to put together a good strategy to beat him.”

A fight that was expected to have major title implications for the UFC Middleweight division failed to deliver on all counts.