Travis Browne vs. Matt Mitrione, Boetsch vs. Herman set for UFC Fight Night 81 in Boston

Matt Mitrione

The UFC’s January return to Boston has a new pair of fights featuring heavyweights and middleweights.

Big men Travis Browne (17-3-1 MMA, 8-3-1 UFC) and Matt Mitrione (9-4 MMA, 9-4 UFC) are set to meet at UFC Fight Night 81, as our 185-pounders Tim Boetsch (18-9 MMA, 9-8 MMA) and Ed Herman (22-11 MMA, 9-8 UFC). The bouts were announced on Wednesday night’s edition of “UFC Tonight” on FOX Sports 1.

UFC Fight Night 81 takes place Jan. 17, a Sunday, at TD Garden in Boston. The main card will air on FOX Sports 1 and will feature that channel’s first UFC title fight when former champ Dominick Cruz challenges current bantamweight titleholder T.J. Dillashaw.

Browne in May was stopped in a “Fight of the Night” slugfest against Andrei Arlovski at UFC 187. Arlovski took it to the Hawaiian early before Browne rallied – only to have Arlovski rally, himself, for a first-round TKO win. Browne had been coming off a TKO win over Brendan Schaub at UFC 181, which got him back on track after a decision loss to Fabricio Werdum in a heavyweight title eliminator in April 2014.

In July, Browne found himself on the wrong side of the MMA news headlines when he was temporarily suspended by the UFC while an independent investigation was conducted after allegations of domestic abuse were lobbed his way. In late August, the UFC announced the evidence its investigators found was inconclusive, and Browne was reinstated.

Mitrione had a three-fight winning streak of first-round knockouts snapped in June when he was submitted by Ben Rothwell at UFC Fight Night 68 in New Orleans. Prior to that, the “TUF 10” product and former NFL lineman had three consecutive stoppages of Shawn Jordan, Derrick Lewis and Gabriel Gonzaga. The Jordan and Gonzaga knockouts earned him $50,000 performance bonuses.

Boetsch is badly in need of a victory with losses in three of his past four fights. In June, he headlined UFC Fight Night 68, but was knocked out by Dan Henderson in 28 seconds – despite being favored in the fight. Prior to that, Thales Leites choked him unconscious at UFC 183. Overall, he has losses in five of his past seven fights after a four-fight winning streak in 2011-12.

Herman has alternated wins and losses his past five fights, dropping three of them. He slid over to Strikeforce temporarily for that promotion’s finale to fight Ronaldo Souza, but was submitted in the first round in January 2013. He then took a split decision from Trevor Smith, dropped a decision to Leites, took a decision from Rafael Natal, and at UFC 183 in January, he was knocked out by Derek Brunson 56 seconds into their fight.

The latest UFC Fight Night 81 card now inclues:

• T.J. Dillashaw vs. Dominick Cruz
• Eddie Alvarez vs. Anthony Pettis
• Travis Browne vs. Matt Mitrione
• Tim Boetsch vs. Ed Herman

For more on UFC Fight Night 81, check out the UFC Rumors section of the site.