‘The Barbarian’ will make the trip to Wichita in March, as Tim Boetsch is set to face Omari Akhmedov.
The UFC’s debut in Wichita, Kansas continues to grow. On Tuesday, the promotion announced via social media that middleweight Tim Boetsch would return to action at the ESPN+ event, taking on Omari Akhmedov. Boetsch vs. Akhmedov joins the previously announced UFC Wichita main event of Junior Dos Santos vs. Derrick Lewis, as well as the widely reported return of ‘Big’ Ben Rothwell taking on Blagoy Ivanov.
Also, coming to #UFCWichita!
➡️ @TimBoetsch vs @Omari_Akhmedov
➡️ Ivanov vs @RothwellFighter
➡️ @BelizeanBruiser vs @YanaKunitskaya1 pic.twitter.com/7tePwg773A— UFC (@ufc) January 8, 2019
Boetsch (21–12) suffered a submission loss in his last bout, against Antonio Carlos Junior at UFC Glendale. Overall, ‘The Barbarian’ is 3-2 in his last five, with wins over Johny Hendricks, Rafael Natal, and the late Josh Samman. Fighting just once in 2018, the Maine native will no doubt be looking to stay active this year, and the March date should help with that.
Omari Akhmedov (17-4-1) also struggled to make it to the octagon in 2018. In fact, he didn’t, sitting out the entire year while dealing with injuries, including one that saw him pull out of a planned September bout with CB Dollaway. Akhmedov last fought in December 2017, in a bout with Marvin Vettori that ended in a draw.
UFC Wichita, numerically UFC Fight Night 146, takes place March 9 at the Intrust Bank Arena in Wichita, Kansas.
