The UFC Fight Night card last night in Louisiana saw aging middleweight Dan Henderson take care of Tim Boetsch in under a minute. Henderson connected on a big punch that rattled Boetsch, and Henderson closed in for the kill. The match ended with Boetsch trying to take referee John McCarthy down as he stepped in to stop the fight.
Henderson was a slight underdog for this one, as he had dropped five of his last six fights prior to that. For Boetsch, this likely means a UFC release, as he has lost two in a row and five of his last seven fights.
The co-main event saw heavyweight Ben Rothwell close out Matt Mitrione with a guillotine choke about two minutes into the opening round. Mitrione was riding a three fight winning streak against the inconsistent Rothwell, so Mitione came into the fight as the betting favorite. Rothwell now has a third win in a row on his resume, and that streak also includes wins over Brandon Vera and Alistair Overeem so Rothwell could be one win away from an eventual title shot.
At lightweight, Dustin Poirier also finished his fight in the first round as he took out Yancy Medeiros with punches around the midway point. Poirier came intot he fight a betting favorite, and he has now won two fights in a row and five of six. Poirier previously campaigned in the featherweight division where he was considered an up and coming fighter until he ran into Conor McGregor and lost badly. Since then however, the move to lightweight appears to have suited him and he does not seemed undersized. Look for Poirier to get a step up fight here in short order.
Another fast match from the main card saw Anthony Birchak send a message in the Bantamweight division as he wiped out Joe Soto in less than two minutes. Now, before you get to excited, Birchak is now 1-1 in the UFC and 12-2 overall, but dispatching the pesky Soto in such quick fashion warrants notice, as Soto is best remembered for fighting bantamweight champion TJ Dillashaw on twenty four hours notice and extending him into the fifth round before faltering. Look for Birchak to get an even bigger test in his next outing.
