BANGOR — The Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) put on its first ever fight in Maine Aug. 16 at the Cross Insurance Center in Bangor and Lincolnville native Tim Boetsch fought in the main card event. 

Boetsch, a four-time state wrestling champion at then-Camden-Rockport High School (now Camden Hills Regional High School) bested Brad Tavares in two of three possible rounds. Boetsch struggled in the first round, and got a little bloodied up in the process, but quickly came out strong to begin the second round. Ultimately, Boetsch won via a knockout at 3:18 in the second round. 

Boetsch, the underdog, also made more history by being the first person to knockout Tavares.

In a post-fight interview, Boetsch told FoxSports 1 on the winning moves: “Well, all I can say is I’m glad I’m not afraid of seeing my own blood cause there’s plenty of it around. Uh, I was throwing hard; I knew if I landed that’s all it was going to take. And as you saw, I landed a couple good ones and I was able to finish him off.”

“But he’s tough,” Boetsch said of his opponent. “You can tell by the way my face is looking right now he’s legit. And uh, it was an honor to fight him. But it was more of an honor to fight right here in Bangor though, I love you guys!”

“Yeah, man, I have to say this is one of the better feelins I’ve had in my life,” the Lincolnville native said on the win. “This is incredible.”

Boetsch entered the fight with a 17-7 record. His previous victories were claimed by seven knockouts, five submissions and five decisions. His losses come by two knockouts, two submissions and three decisions, per Sherdog.com.

The night began at 8 p.m. with four preliminary card fights that aired on FoxSports 2. The first fight saw Frankie Saenz defeat Nolan Ticman by a unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-27). Tom Watson defeated Sam Alvey by a unanimous decision in the second fight (29-28, 29-28, 29-28).

In the third fight, Sara McMann topped Lauren Murphy by a split decision (29-28, 28-29, 29-28). In the final fight of the preliminary card, Jussier Formiga fended off Zach Makovsky by a unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 29-28). 

At 10 p.m., the main card event kicked off on FoxSports 1. The opening fight of the card saw Thiago Tavares defeat Robbie Peralta by a submission, using a rear-naked choke at 4:27 in the first round. Following, Shawn Jordan bested Jack May by a technical knock out with 2:03 in the third round. In the seventh bout of the night, Alan Jouban battled Seth Baczynski used his slick moves to beat the competition via a knockout at 4:23 in the first round of his UFC debut.

The night’s eighth bout was the aforementioned Boetsch versus Tavares. 

Ross Pearson defeated Gray Maynard in the ninth fight of the night by a technical knockout at 1:35 in the second record. The knockout loss was the third straight one for Maynard.

The final bout, the headline fight, between Ryan Bader and Ovince St. Preux saw Bader win by a unanimous decision (48-47, 49-46, 49-46). 

Reach George Harvey at sports@penbaypilot.com.