In all honest, the real “People’s Main Event” for UFC Fight Night 91 was removed when Michael Chiesa bowed out with an injury.
Chiesa vs. Tony Ferguson in a meeting of former Ultimate Fighter winners and lightweight contenders was a sure-fire “Fight of the Year” candidate.
Now, we must look down the main card for another worthy contender for the “PME.”
And we got a good one, folks.
If you aren’t completely burnt out after International Fight Week, make sure you do not miss Wednesday night’s Tim Boetsch-Josh Samman contest.
This is your typical veteran vs. top prospect.
Boetsch (18-10) finds himself in a must-win situation after three consecutive losses to Ed Herman, Dan Henderson and Thales Leites. The two most recent ones have been knockouts, including a 28-second finish vs. Henderson.
But the 35-year-old is never in boring fights and is just a few years removed from a series of wins over the likes of Hector Lombard and Yushin Okami that had him talking about the title. In fact, Boetsch actually faced off against former champion Luke Rockhold in 2014.
Samman (12-3) had his four-fight win streak snapped by Tamdan McCrory last December when he was caught with a triangle choke in the third round. The former Ultimate Fighter competitor had scored back-to-back-to-back finishes vs. Caio Magalhaes, Eddie Gordon and Kevin Casey to begin his UFC run.
The 28-year-old Floridan is a finisher, as he owns 11 career knockout or submission wins to his credit, while two of his three defeats have also come early. Both wins over Gordon and Magalhaes earned him “Performance of the Night” honors.
