Luke Rockhold vs. Tim Boetsch set for UFC 172 in Baltimore
Fresh from his first UFC win, Luke Rockhold will get back to work in short order in a fight that was supposed to happen this past fall.
Rockhold (11-2 MMA, 1-1 UFC), the final Strikeforce middleweight champion, will meet Tim Boetsch (17-6 MMA, 8-5 UFC) at UFC 172 in April. UFC officials announced the fight Tuesday morning.
UFC 172 takes place April 26 at Baltimore Arena in Baltimore. The card will be the promotion’s first visit to the Maryland city. The pay-per-view main card is headlined by a light heavyweight title fight between champion Jon Jones and top contender Glover Teixeira. Prelims are expected to take place on FOX Sports 1 and UFC Fight Pass.
Rockhold dropped his UFC debut last year to Vitor Belfort when he was stopped with a spinning kick to the head. He was set to return in October against Boetsch, but a knee injury set him back. Instead, this past month in Georgia, he took on Constantinos Philippou in the UFC Fight Night 35 main event and won “Knockout of the Night†honors when he stopped the fight with a kick to the body.
Rockhold, a longtime member of American Kickboxing Academy in his native California, had a nine-fight winning streak snapped by his loss to Belfort. That streak included taking the Strikeforce 185-pound title from Ronaldo “Jacare†Souza in September 2011. He then defended it with a first-round knockout of Keith Jardine and a decision win over Tim Kennedy before moving to the UFC after the promotions merged.
Boetsch got back on track in October when he took a split decision from C.B. Dollaway at UFC 166. Dollaway picked up the fight after Rockhold was forced out. The split call snapped a two-fight skid for Boetsch, who had dropped fights to Philippou at UFC 155 and Mark Munoz at UFC 162 after being on a four-fight winning streak that had him in title consideration.
With the addition, the latest UFC 172 card now includes:
Champ Jon Jones vs. Glover Teixeira – for light-heavyweight title
Jake Ellenberger vs. Tarec Saffiedine
Tim Boetsch vs. Luke Rockhold
Joseph Benavidez vs. Timothy Elliott
Joe Ellenberger vs. Yancy Medeiros
Andre Fili vs. Max Holloway
Bethe Correia vs. Jessamyn Duke
