''UFC Fight Night: Boetsch vs. Henderson'' (also known as ''UFC Fight Night 68'') was a
mixed martial arts
Mixed martial arts (MMA), sometimes referred to as cage fighting, no holds barred (NHB), and ultimate fighting, and originally referred to as Vale Tudo is a full-contact combat sport based on striking, grappling and ground fighting, inc ...
event held on June 6, 2015, at the
Smoothie King Center
Smoothie King Center (locally referred to as SKC) is a multi-purpose indoor arena in New Orleans, Louisiana. It is located in the city's Central Business District, adjacent to Caesars Superdome. The arena opened in 1999 as New Orleans Arena and ...
in
.
Background
The event was expected to be headlined by a light heavyweight bout between top contenders
Daniel Cormier
Daniel Ryan Cormier (; born March 20, 1979) is an American former professional mixed martial artist, amateur wrestler, and current commentator for the UFC. He is a former Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) Light Heavyweight and Heavyweight Ch ...
and
Ryan Bader
Arizona State Sun Devils
Ryan DuWayne Bader (born June 7, 1983) is an American mixed martial artist currently signed to Bellator MMA where he is the current Bellator Heavyweight Champion, the former Bellator Light Heavyweight Champion, a ...
.
However on April 28, due to
Jon Jones
Jonathan Dwight Jones (born July 19, 1987) is an American professional mixed martial artist currently signed to the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC), in which he has competed in the light heavyweight division. He is a former two-time UFC L ...
' hit-and-run incident leading up to his fight at
UFC 187
''UFC 187: Johnson vs. Cormier'' was a mixed martial arts event held on May 23, 2015, at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada.
Background
The event was expected to be headlined by a UFC Light Heavyweight Championship bout between then ...
against
Anthony Johnson, the UFC decided to strip him of the
UFC Light Heavyweight Championship
Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) champions are fighters who have won UFC championships.
Historical notes
At the time of the UFC's inception in 1993, mixed martial arts was not sanctioned in the United States, and did not include weight classe ...
and suspend him indefinitely. Jones was replaced by Cormier. In turn, a middleweight bout between
Tim Boetsch and mixed martial arts legend
Dan Henderson
Daniel Jeffery Henderson (born August 24, 1970) is an American retired mixed martial artist and Olympic wrestler, who last competed as a middleweight in the Ultimate Fighting Championship. He was the last Strikeforce Light Heavyweight Champi ...
was promoted to the main event. Subsequently, Bader was pulled from the event entirely.
A bantamweight bout between
Joe Soto
Joseph Angel Soto (born March 22, 1987) is an American professional mixed martial artist who most recently competed in the bantamweight division of the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC). A professional competitor since 2006, Soto has also form ...
and
Anthony Birchak
Anthony Birchak (born May 16, 1986) is an American mixed martial artist who competes in the Bantamweight division. A professional competitor since 2009. he formerly competed for the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC), Legacy Fighting Alliance, ...
was originally expected to take place at
UFC 177
''UFC 177: Dillashaw vs. Soto'' was a mixed martial arts event held on August 30, 2014, at the Sleep Train Arena in Sacramento, California.
Background
The event was originally planned to take place at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas, Nev ...
. However, on the day of weigh ins, Soto was pulled from the fight to replace
Renan Barão
Renan Mota do Nascimento Pegado (born 31 January 1987), better known as Renan Barão, is a Brazilian professional mixed martial artist and the former UFC Bantamweight Champion. He held one of the longest unbeaten streaks in MMA history - follo ...
in a
UFC Bantamweight Championship
Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) champions are fighters who have won UFC championships.
Historical notes
At the time of the UFC's inception in 1993, mixed martial arts was not sanctioned in the United States, and did not include weight classe ...
bout against champion
T.J. Dillashaw
Tyler Jeffrey Dillashaw (born February 7, 1986) is an American retired professional mixed martial artist who competed in the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC), where he is a former two-time UFC Bantamweight Champion.
Dillashaw competed on ...
, as Barão had to be admitted to the hospital as a result of his attempts to cut weight. Birchak was removed from the card entirely. The fight was later rescheduled for this event.
Alan Jouban
Alan Michael Joubanhttp://boxing.nv.gov/uploadedFiles/boxingnvgov/content/results/2016_Results/07-07-16MMA.pdf (born November 25, 1982) is an American retired professional mixed martial artist who competed in the Welterweight division. A profess ...
was expected to face
Brian Ebersole
Brian Keith Ebersole (born November 27, 1980) is an American retired mixed martial artist who competed in the UFC's Welterweight division, and holds a record of 5-3 with the organization. In addition to the UFC, Ebersole has competed in Shooto, ...
at the event. However, Jouban pulled out of the fight in late March citing injury and was replaced by
Omari Akhmedov
Omari Akhmedov (born October 12, 1987) is a Russian professional mixed martial artist who currently competes in the Light Heavyweight division of Professional Fighters League (PFL). He previously fought in the Ultimate Fighting Championship.
Ba ...
.
Zubaira Tukhugov
Zubaira Alikhanovich Tukhugov (born January 15, 1991) is a Russian mixed martial artist who fights in the Lightweight division of the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC). A professional MMA competitor since 2010, Tukhugov made a name for himsel ...
was expected to face
Thiago Tavares
Thiago de Mello Tavares (born November 8, 1984) is a Brazilian mixed martial artist and politician who most recently competed in the Lightweight division. An 18-fight veteran of the UFC, he has also fought in the Professional Fighters League and ...
at the event. However on April 25, it was announced that Tukhugov had to pull out of the fight due to an undisclosed injury.
Brian Ortega
Brian Ortega (born February 21, 1991) is an American professional mixed martial artist. He currently competes in the Featherweight division in the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC). A professional since 2010, Ortega has also competed in the R ...
was announced as his replacement on May 6.
Daniel Sarafian
Daniel Sarafian Gantman (born 21 August 1982 in São Paulo) is an Armenian-Brazilian mixed martial artist who last competed in 2018. A professional since 2006, Sarafian has formerly competed for the UFC, Bellator, Absolute Championship Berkut, ...
was expected to face Ricardo Abreu at this event. However on May 4, Sarafian was forced to withdraw from the event due to injury and was replaced by
Jake Collier
Jake Collier (born October 23, 1988) is an American mixed martial artist who competes in the Heavyweight division of the Ultimate Fighting Championship.
Background
With no background in sports, Collier started Brazilian jiu-jitsu to lose weight ...
.
Both
Yancy Medeiros
Yancy Medeiros Jr. (born September 7, 1987) is an American mixed martial artist who competes in the Lightweight division of Bellator MMA. A professional competitor since 2007, he has competed for the Ultimate Fighting Championship and Strikeforc ...
and Leonardo Morales missed weight on their first attempts at the weigh-ins, coming in at 159.5 lb and 140 lb respectively. They were both given additional time to make the weight limits for their respective weight classes, but Medeiros made no attempts to cut further. Morales would miss weight again on his second attempt, coming in at 137 lb. As a result, they were both fined 20 percent of their fight purses, which went to
Dustin Poirier
Dustin Poirier (born January 19, 1989) is an American professional mixed martial artist. He is a former Interim UFC Lightweight Champion. As of May 9, 2022, he is #2 in the UFC lightweight rankings and as of October 24, 2022, he is #11 in the U ...
and
José Alberto Quiñónez
José Alberto Quiñónez Navarro (born July 28, 1990) is a Mexican mixed martial artist who competes in the Bantamweight division. He was one of the cast members in The Ultimate Fighter: Latin America 1, The Ultimate Fighter UFC TV reality show ...
respectively.
With seven first-round finishes, this event ties the record for most first-round finishes in a single UFC event.
Results
Bonus awards
The following fighters were awarded $50,000 bonuses:
*Fight of the Night: Brian Ortega vs. Thiago Tavares
*Performance of the Night: Dustin Poirier and Shawn Jordan
See also
*
List of UFC events
This is a list of events held and scheduled by the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC), a mixed martial arts promotion based in the United States. UFC's first event, UFC 1, took place on November 12, 1993. Each UFC event contains several fight ...
*
2015 in UFC
References
UFC Fight Night
2015 in mixed martial arts
Mixed martial arts in New Orleans
MMA
Mixed martial arts (MMA), sometimes referred to as cage fighting, no holds barred (NHB), and ultimate fighting, and originally referred to as Vale Tudo is a full-contact combat sport based on strike (attack), striking, grappling and ground f ...
June 2015 sports events in the United States
Events in New Orleans
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