UFC Fight Night 68 has a new main event, and fans in Louisiana aren’t likely to be too happy about it. UFC FN 68, which takes place June 6 at Smoothie King Center in New Orleans, was supposed to be headlined by Daniel Cormier taking on Ryan Bader in a five-round light heavyweight bout. But with Cormier pulled from the card and slotted in against Anthony Johnson at UFC 187, Bader was left without an opponent. Instead of looking for someone to fight Bader, the UFC decided to pull the former TUF winner from the card and the new main event of UFC FN 68 is now a middleweight bout between Tim Boetsch and Dan Henderson. The fight is scheduled for five rounds. Boetsch vs. Hendo is a decent scrap, but this is no main event. At this point of both fighters’ careers, they are lucky to still be employed in the UFC considering their recent records. How Henderson goes from getting knocked out in a minute to headlining a Fight Night card in his next appearance is beyond me. As for Boetsch, he’s done a little better as of late, but he is still coming off of a loss to Thales Leites and on paper doesn’t really deserve a promotion to a fight card headliner role. With the event just a month away, clearly the UFC had to announce a new main event for it, but instead of Boetsch vs. Henderson they could have used the heavyweight bout between Ben Rothwell and Matt Mitrione as the main event instead, considering those two are coming off of devastating knockout wins over Alistair Overeem and Gabriel Gonzaga, respectively. But nope, for whatever reason Boetsch and Henderson were elevated to main event status and it’s a decision that has me scratching my head as to why. As for the actual matchup itself, like I said it’s a decent scrap between two veteran warriors, and it’s a fight that could go either way. Henderson is 44 years old now and his chin is fading badly, but he still has knockout power and can finish anyone. As for Boetsch, his submission defence is still awful, but he’s still tough and can knock people out. Basically, both men are going to be looking for the knockout here, and that should make for an exciting fight, albeit not one that should be a main event. As for the odds, it’s a pretty close fight and I could see it being around a Pick ’em, although I do think at this point in time you have to lean towards the younger, more durable fighter in Boetsch, although this truly is a fight that could go either way.
