Issue 176

March 2019

Maine middleweight and former four-time state wrestling champion Tim Boetsch looks back at a fistful of his favorite fights.

1. First amateur fight, Iowa

It was a short notice kind of deal. My roommate Mike Ciesnolevicz called me up and said to come out to Iowa. He said he could get me some fights that weekend. It sounded like a good idea, I guess. I don’t even recall my opponent’s name. This was literally my first experience of being in an actual fight. There were a lot of questions in my mind. I didn’t know what it was like to be punched in the face or if I would be knocked unconscious and people would laugh at me. That fight was one of the most important because I figured out right away that it was something I was fairly good at.

2. Demian Decoarah, MT 9: Madtown Throwdown

This was my first professional fight. Again, under the expert management of Mike Ciesnolevicz, I went out to Wisconsin to find out the guy I'm fighting has over 30 professional fights! It was Pride rules, meaning we were able to stomp on each other’s heads.

I gassed in the first thirty seconds of the fight. My survival mode took over and I came out with a TKO win. I couldn’t walk for a week because I kneed him in the head so many times on the ground. It really got me hooked. Being a wrestler my whole life, I certainly loved the adrenaline rush. I thought it was something I wanted to pursue but I never, at that point, thought of making a full career out of it.

3. Vladimir Matyushenko, IFL 2007 Semi-Finals

This is the one that got me noticed. He would just take guys down and pound them. But we had a bit of a scramble and I battled back to my feet. As the round ended, he was glaring at me like, ‘Who does this guy think he is?’

I think that’s what got me along in the beginning of my career. I just didn’t know any better. I was just stubborn and tough. Even though I lost, Wade Fatool (coach and father-in-law) and Drew Fatool (training partner and brother-in-law) and I could go back and watch it and score it in my favor.

People expected me to go in there and be a punching bag. That wasn’t the case at all. After that I took the step up to the UFC.

4. Yushin Okami, UFC 144

The trip over to Japan has to be on the list. Again, I was the underdog in hostile territory. That made me excited and I wanted to perform the best I could.

Being the Rocky fan that I am, I'd watched Rocky go to Russia and fight Drago a hundred times as a kid. That mentality, that is just how me and my team have always been. We will fight anybody, anywhere, anytime. I took a beating for ten straight minutes in that fight.

But if you can drag things into deeper water, the underdog seems to do better. That one certainly turned out in my favor with the big knockout in round three. That was a great fight camp and a great trip. It was a blast all the way.

5. Brad Tavares, UFC Fight Night 47

Now we are going to my hometown. This was another quote unquote, come from behind win.

I swear there were some tactics being employed in this fight. Going to Bangor and having the opportunity to fight in front of my hometown crowd and having an entire arena there to watch me and celebrating the victory, that was a moment that I will remember forever.

It was an incredible experience. For me, I hear a lot of stuff going on during a fight. I am able to focus on my coaches' voices during a fight. I like to think that I am aware of my surroundings. Not that it motivated me, but I did hear a certain chant moments before the victory in that fight. It was pure joy.

I had a great training camp with Marcus Davis. His gym was right across the bridge. Tavares was supposed to come in there and tune me up with his striking but I was able to get the KO in that one as well.