By Kelsey Mowatt

Following his second win as a middleweight, a unanimous decision win over the previously undefeated Nick Ring at last month’s UFC 135 card, Tim “The Barbarian” Boetsch is still awaiting word to find out when and who he will fight next. It will be interesting to see who the UFC decides to match Boetsch up against, as after impressive, back-to-back performances at 185 pounds, the attention and expectations surrounding the former light-heavyweight have started to rise.

“I certainly welcome it,” said Boetsch, who also scored a dominant unanimous decision win over Kendall Grove in May. “I have very high expectations for myself, and whenever I hear fans or reporters talking about possible opponents and what expectations they have for me, I welcome that. I want people to think highly of me and expect big things, the big throws, trying to finish people, and I want to put a big streak together here and take out as many middleweights as I can.”

While Boetsch is clearly feeling confident about what he can bring to the middleweight division, the 30 year-old-veteran also concedes that putting together the final pieces to make a run at 185 pounds, could take some time yet.

“They could throw me a top ten guy, but I’ve said before that I’m in no hurry,” Boetsch tolf FCF. “I’m still getting used to the new weight class; I’m still learning a lot at AMC Pankration with Matt Hume…I feel like I’m just starting to evolve into the fighter that I believe I’m supposed to be, so I’m in no rush to get to the top ten, top five guys in the weight class, as I’d like to evolve my game a little bit more before I battle all the top guys in the weight class. When I get there I want to beat all of them.”

“I’d like to get a little bit more experience, a little bit more time at middleweight under my belt,” Boetsch added. “Whoever the UFC wants to match me up against next I’ll be more than happy to take that fight and finish whoever they give me.”

Heading into his UFC 135 bout with Ring, Boetsch was quick to compliment the aforementioned Hume for helping develop the experienced wrestler into more of a well rounded mixed-martial-artist.

“I personally think I need to work on everything,” said Boetsch (14-4) while discussing his evolution as a fighter. “I think I can do a better job striking, wrestling, everything, which actually isn’t a bad thing, I’m excited because I’ve had success with what I’ve been doing so far, so if I improve everything I should be a force for people to watch out for.”

The win over Ring was Boetsch’s fourth in his last five fights, with his only loss during that stretch coming to light-heavyweight contender Phil Davis, who tapped him out with a second round Kimura last December.

“It went pretty well,” said Boetsch when asked to evaluate his most recent win. “The first round went pretty slow trying to figure out how to catch up to him, because he was running from me, but in the second and third round I definitely had the answer for him. Overall I was happy with my performance but I would have liked to finish the fight. Obviously there’s room for improvement.”

“This cut was actually harder than the cut I did for Kendall,” Boetsch added, when asked if he had any difficulties cutting weight for his second appearance at middleweight. “I’m not sure what the reason was. I had a bit of  cold the week before so I’m not sure if that was why the weight wasn’t coming off, but as far as fight night, I felt great…I’m certainly glad I made the decision to drop down.”