Maine news, sports, weather from Portland Press Herald / Maine Sunday Telegram, Portland, Maine

Tim "The Barbarian" Boetsch will make his return to the big stage when UCF 117 kicks off on Saturday, Aug. 7, but with less than two weeks to go he will have to switch gears for a new opponent.

At 38 years old, Todd Brown (11-1) will make his UFC debut as the replacement for Thiago Silva, who pulled out due to injury.

With a little more than a week to go, this flips the Barbarian’s role in this fight on its head. For the last few months he’s been tailoring his training for a breakthrough performance against a top-tier gatekeeper in Silva, who’s only two losses have come to former UFC champions. Now he’s the gatekeeper, having to fend off a journeyman minor-leaguer looking to make the most of his first (and perhaps only) major league appearance.

On paper this favors Boetsch, but Tim was confident that his game-plan for Silva was solid and is clearly disappointed that he won’t be able to implement it. Now the scramble is on to learn what he can about Brown and tweak his plan accordingly. Brown said as much himself to MMAjunkie.com.

“(I’m) the unknown. He’s got to worry about what am I doing. He doesn’t know anything about me.”

On the other hand Brown acknowledges that he won’t have the benefit of a training camp, which should give the Boetsch a decided advantage in the cardio department. Brown will likely be swinging for the fences and trying to make a highlight real one way or the other, stay tuned...

About this Blog

Jay is in his eleventh year working in the sports department at the Portland Press Herald/Maine Sunday Telegram. A former All-State track athlete for Old Orchard Beach, football and volleyball player at the University of East Anglia, and cheerleader for the University of Maine Black Bears, Jay has dabbled in a variety sports over the years. In 2001 he had the pleasure to begin training in mixed martial arts with Master Seung Choi, the late founder of the Choi Institute of Martial Arts and Science. Though Jay has turned his attention to road racing since the master passed away in 2005, his interest and enthusiasm in MMA has remained. He recently finished the MDI Marathon and is looking forward to exploring Greece with his wife Erin in the spring.

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