UFC 130 Prelim Results: Mighty Mouse Steals the Show from Torres; Boetsch Powers Through Grove

Mighty Mouse grappling with Miguel Torres

The UFC 130 preliminary bouts on Spike TV on Saturday night both went the distance on Saturday night, although they couldn’t have been any more different.

Demetrious “Mighty Mouse” Johnson and Miguel Torres were locked in a hyper-aggressive battle from bell to bell.

Mighty Mouse used his speed throughout to stay away from Torres’ reach in the stand-up game, but more importantly to continually put Torres on his back all night long.

Fighting off his back isn’t exactly uncomfortable for Torres. He fired off elbows to the top of Johnson’s skull all night, and swarmed him with submission attempts. But it was Mighty Mouse that maintained top position for the majority of the fight, fending off Torres’ submission attempts, and scoring with enough ground and pound to win the fight.

In the end, Johnson walked out of the Octagon with a unanimous decision, winning 29-28 on all three scorecards.

It was Johnson’s third consecutive victory putting him on the radar for a shot at the UFC bantamweight belt currently strapped tight around Dominick Cruz’s waist.

Tim Boetsch working from inside Kendall Grove's guard

It wasn’t the most exciting of fights, but Tim Boetsch’s inaugural outing in the middleweight division was effective. He drew a tough task in scrappy Hawaiian fighter and former TUF winner Kendall Grove for his 185-pound debut, but advantage he gained in the drop was evident.

From the onset, Boetsch easily muscled Grove around the Octagon, taking him down at will. Boetsch wasn’t able to effect much damage, but he did score with a consistent ground and pound attack, and kept Grove on the defensive throughout.

Boetsch admitted after the fight that he had been considering the drop from 205 pounds for quite some time.

“Phil Davis really affirmed my thoughts on dropping to middleweight. Certainly glad I did; felt great, I felt really strong,” he said of Saturday night’s efforts.

The scorecards ready unanimously 30-27 in Boetsch’s favor