Middleweights Tim Boetsch (16-6, 7-5 UFC) and C.B. Dollaway (13-4, 7-4 UFC) capped off the FS1 prelims of UFC 166. Boetsch wanted to get in close and make this fight dirty from the beginning, but CB didn’t make it easy for him. The Barbarian landed big blows throughout, but had to contend with Dollway’s counters, wrestling, and top control. After two eyepokes in the third round, two of the judges gave the fight to Boetsch.
Boetsch came out looking to land that big punch early. He stalked toward CB through the first, trying to land hooks and clinch up. Dolloway made good use of movement circling away, but still ate some big blows. Boetsch hit a takedown but couldn’t do anything with it. He also managed to land some solid shots of his own and started taunting “The Barbarian” later in the round.
Dolloway hit a takedown early in the second and took top control. Boetch tried to scramble out and Dolloway went for the Peruvian Necktie but missed it. Boetsch made up and sprawled on the next takedown attempt. After the scramble, Boetsch went for a knee to the body as CB stood back up. Dolloway scoops Tim up in a double leg. Boetsch went for an ineffective kimura attempt and the bell sounded with Dolloway landing elbows to the body.
Only 20 seconds in to the final round, Boetsch took an eyepoke from Dolloway that stopped the action. CB extended his lead hand as Tim moved in. The fight restarted with Boetsch’s eye bleeding. A lot of pressure from The Barbarian trying to get into the clinch. Action stopped again with another eyepoke from CB. The ref correctly takes a point from Dolloway. Boetsch tagged Dolloway with a right but got taken down trying a kick. Cut opened up on Boetsch’s forehead as Dolloway moved to mount, but Tim escaped. CB went for a trip in the closing seconds but Boetsch reversed to end the round on top.
tim Boetsch won the split decision (30-26 x 2, 29-27) over C.B. Dolloway