Brad Tavares: Tim Boetsch will try to 'squeak out a win' at UFC Fight Night 47

Brad Tavares (12-2 MMA, 7-2 UFC) believes Tim Boetsch (17-7 MMA, 8-6 UFC) will be gunning for a conservative victory, not an exciting fight, when the pair meet at UFC Fight Night 47 later this summer.

While the two middleweights have received solid co-main event placement on the Aug. 16 FOX Sports 1-televised fight card from Bangor’s Cross Insurance Center, Tavares doesn’t feel entirely optimistic Boetsch will be willing to take many risks.

“I’m hoping he doesn’t just lay-and-pray, wall-and-stall and try to hump my leg,” Tavares told MMAjunkie. “I hope he comes to fight, but I’m ready for him to come in and try to squeak out a win.”

Boetsch will enter the event with a 1-3 record in his past four UFC appearances. The lone victory for “The Barbarian” in that stretch was a controversial split-decision win over C.B. Dolloway at UFC 166.

Tavares isn’t in the most comfortable of positions, either. After putting together an impressive five-fight UFC winning streak, he suffered a lopsided decision loss to Yoel Romero in April and his career was sapped of any momentum.

The loss to Romero took a lot of wind out of Tavares’ sails, especially since his orbital bone was fractured in three places from a strike early in the first round. It was the first time Tavares had ever truly been injured in a fight, and while he could point to that as the stem of his defeat, he says the outcome was actually due to tactical errors.

“I made a bunch of little mistakes in the fight,” Tavares said. “I’m over it. I’m not one of those guys that dwells on it. If you dwell on the past, you’ll never move forward. I’m looking forward to the future, to my next fight. You win, you lose in this sport. It’s something that comes with the territory.”

Even though Tavares prefers to take the humble route, he certainly hasn’t taken the loss lying down. From the moment the fight with Romero ended, Tavares has been gunning for a rematch and now has the goal of testing his skills against “The Solider of God” one more time in the future.

“I’ve never felt there was a fight where I needed to do again or get back, but that was one of them that I do,” Tavares said. “Not to take nothing away from the man, he’s an excellent fighter and that night he was the better man, but I feel like I allowed him to look a lot better than he actually is. Down the line I’m sure we’ll meet again.

“More than anything that fight made me hungry. Having that loss, it gave me something to work toward now. It put a bad taste in my mouth and it kind of pisses me off. I’m hungry now. I can’t wait to this fight. I want to go out there and smash this guy.”

Tavares is the type of fighter who prefers to keep his bouts standing and look for a knockout. Boetsch can be hit-and-miss when it comes to that style, but Tavares thinks he’ll be looking for the safe win. On paper, the path of least resistance for Boetsch would on the ground, looking for a submission, or to run out the clock and win on positioning.

The latter wouldn’t lead to the most entertaining contest, but Tavares says he’ll do everything in his power to shut Boetsch down. Regardless, the Hawaiian hopes to make it a memorable affair no matter what strategy his opponent brings to the octagon.

“Obviously his wrestling is his go-to,” Tavares said. “He’s shown in the past fights where he came in barraging, clinching up, taking guys down or just holding them in the clinch. He has won fights that way. His back is against the wall. He really needs a win. I think he’ll come out there and do whatever it takes to get the win. Hopefully he wants to fight and make it exciting, but if not I’ll be ready for it.”

For more on UFC Fight Night 47, check out the UFC Rumors section of the site.