Lombard vs. Boetsch

This is the official discussion thread for Lombard vs. Boetsch. Let's see what you've got.

Bad performance by both guys, excited that Boetsch won but damn, neither guy really did anything to deserve it

boetsch broke his foot in the second round. saw it on fuel. mr. lombard. piss poor performance. props to boestch for continuing.

* Edited at 07.22.2012, 1:31 AM ET *

It appears that the only people Lombard will beat in the near future are those that are dumb enough to stand directly in front of him and throw down.
He will be hard pressed to find those idiots in the big show.

How close is Tim to a title shot? It has to be between him and Weidman right now.

I absolutely love Tim, but I can't even consider thinking that he's ready for a title shot. I'm thinking 1 more win over any of these guys and he should be SERIOUSLY considered.
Bisping
Weidman
Stann
Sonnen
Belcher

@geez- None of those guys are ready for Silva :P

LOL! Well technically NOBODY is ready for Silva!!! But he still needs to fight.

@geez- And so does Silva! He's getting old! lol Congrats to Tim in all, but seriously who do they line up for Silva??

That seems to be the big question these days. Nobody really stands a chance, and the number of potential victims is growing fast.
Regardless of what Dana says, he was praying that Hector was the man for the job, but unfortunately that didn't pan out for him.

@geez- I thought Lombard did well with his take down defense..but that was about it!

The thing is, Boetsch didn't do anything either. And Lombard easily had the more effective striking and the only takedown. It makes it look like they were trying to send him a message. If it'd been anyone else, people would have been commenting about how "smart" he fought the fight (I mean, if the decision had gone the other way). And it WAS smart if Lombard had been told the fight was a title eliminator.

I was thinking to myself the whole time how funny it was that he slipped right into character. When in the UFC...

I can't say it went exactly the way I thought it would. I really didn't expect a great performance out of Lombard. It's quite usual for a guy making his debut in the UFC to look like he doesn't know what to do, especially when fighting somebody who's been there and done that ten times. I was more disappointed in Boetsch. I expected just a bit more out of him. However, if he did actually break his foot, then that would explain it. However, to say he did nothing to win the fight isn't really accurate. He did nothing exciting yes. However, he came forward more often, landed more total strikes, and landed quite a few kicks to lombard's legs and body. Lombard countered well a few times but never followed up with anything. Boetsch pressed what little action there was and that resulted in his victory. As for the question of who's going to fight Anderson Silva? I don't think it really matters because he's not going to lose before he retires. There is nobody close to his level right now, and that's ok. I enjoy watching greatness. Personally, I'd like to see Silva fight stand up guys who come forward. Then, at least, the fights would be relatively exciting. We get to watch Silva go through his slow methodical timing of his opponent. Then we get to see him follow it up with some fancy salsa dancing. Following that, he will do the little spinning hands thing he does. Then he unleashes the most accurate barrage of strikes ever seen. I keep waiting for him to go mortal combat on the guy and rip out his spine, but that never happens. So put Bisping in there. He will actually go after Silva a bit and will be relatively entertaing up until his separation from consciousness in the late first round.

i can't wait to see how much Poison Dwarf was paid for this fight...

I think Tim deserves the title shot. However I think he stands the least chance of beating Silva. That is a tough decision for Joe Silva and Dana to make. I personally would like to see a Weidman/Silva match up next and give Tim a fight with Vitor. Just my opinion.

@Anik: I think if you use the nickname "Poison Dwarf" three more times in entertaining commentary it will stick forever.

@p4pgoat: Why would Boetsch or Weidman deserve a title shot more than Bisping?  I'm not a Bisping fan but he has been quite successful against some pretty good fighters at middle weight since he cut down from light heavy several years ago.  I know the UFC has held him out of a title fight because they don't want to see their biggest English attraction beaten soundly, but you can't avoid the fight forever.  Bisping deserves the shot, even if it will be a short night for him.  He's put in the work and had the success to validate it.

PERFECTO!




What? I thought you're supposed to say that as many times as you can.

Bisping has lost in all 3 of his big fights which would have taken him up a level in the division

I like Bisping and think he's close but who cares if he's been around for a long time? If he hasn't cemented himself by now then that's his fault and no one else's! 

Weidman just beat Munoz which is a much bigger win than any of Bispings...

That's just how it is...

If Lombard actually fought instead of standing around, he'd easily win this fight.
Maybe he threw it to fight Munoz

* Edited at 07.22.2012, 2:09 PM ET *

I don't think that Boetsch deserves a title shot yet. First of all, there are way better fighters in this division. Weidman dominanted Munoz and is still unbeaten. Bisping is a great fighter but he needs a win over a top guy. Belfort is still a great fighter and in my opinion the only middleweight fighter who is able to beat Silva. When you think of the first fight you just remember this nasty front kick, but in this fight Belfort had some good scenes.
And the second point is that Boetsch hasn't beat a very good opponent clearly. The win over Okami was great, but, I don't know exactly, Okami nearly finished him in the second round. The comeback was great, but you shouldn't forget that he had very big problems during this fight. And I don't have to mention that the Lombard-fight wasn't great too.