(
(It’s likely a safe bet that this fight isn’t going to end in a submission.)

A light heavyweight tilt between Thiago Silva and Tim Boetsch has been greenlit for UFC 117 according to Sherdog.com. Although neither fighter has received bout agreements for the fight, both have verbally agreed to face one another at the August 7 show in Oakland, CA.

The owner of a 14-2 record, Silva’s only losses have come against current and former UFC champions. His first blemish came at UFC 94 in the form of a knockout at the heavy hands of Lyoto Machida, who repeated the feat to take the title from Rashad Evans four months later at UFC 98. After knocking out Evans’ Team Jackson teammate, Keith Jardine at UFC 102 Thiago dropped a unanimous decision to Evans at UFC 108.

Boetsch, who compiled a 2-2 record in the Octagon with wins over Michael Patt and David Heath before being dropped by the promotion in 2009, has kept busy since his departure, racking up three straight wins outside of the UFC. You might remember him as the fighter Matt Hammill decided to demonstrate his newly acquired boxing skills on.

(War Machine, Unidentified Mayhem Monkey, and Frank Lester: Worst game of FMK ever.)

It seems that an insane amount of heart doesn’t necessarily guarantee job security if you can’t win fights. After being choked out by Nick Osipczak at the Ultimate Fighter 9 Finale — which followed a TUF 9 run where he beat Kiel Reid and Dave Faulkner and lost twice to James Wilks — Frank Lester has been cut by the UFC. The Team Quest fighter’s pro record dropped to 3-3 after his most recent loss. Godspeed, young shadow-boxer.

(Chuck Liddell vs. Rashad Evans)

(Nate Marquardt vs. Martin Kampmann)

(Dan Henderson vs. Rousimar Palhares)

Case of beer? Check. Piss bucket? Check. Well then, we’re ready to roll! Click the “more” link and refresh the page every few minutes to get the latest updates from the “Bloodbath in Broomfield” (a.k.a. UFN 13).

(“Oh shiiiiiiiiiit!”)

We’re not the only website trying to claim credit for this prediction, but basically we called it: It’s been confirmed that Tim “The Heath Killer” Boetsch will step in for the injured Stephan Bonnar to face Matt Hamill at Ultimate Fight Night 13. No word yet if the fight will be on the main card, but the official lineup with be announced shortly.

And there’s even more good news, as a tenth match has been added to the card: UFC.com now shows that TUF 6 castmembers George Sotiropoulos and Roman Mitichyan will meet in the Octagon. Sotiropoulos was the Australian Team Serra standout who rolled his way into the semis where Tommy Speer poked him in the eye then GnP’d him to sleep. Mitichyan was the dude who broke his elbow in episode one and then freaked out when he wasn’t allowed to fight through it. Both men are coming off of wins at December’s Ultimate Fighter 6 finale.

For all the debate over Steve Mazzagatti’s controversial point-deduction during UFC 81′s Lesnar/Mir fight, we’ve overlooked one other questionable reffing moment from “Breaking Point.” Watch the video above and count how many unanswered punches to the face Tim Boetsch gets in on David Heath — who doesn’t even have his hands up — before Herb Dean decides to come back from his cigarette break.

Of course, Boetsch himself can’t be faulted for laying down the fury. In fact the Pennsylvania-based light heavyweight, who filled in for Tomasz Drwal at UFC 81 on just 10 days notice, believes that his dramatic K.O. of Heath will earn him a return trip to the Octagon. As Boetsch told TAGG Radio:

“I haven’t heard anything as of yet. But just from the response from the fans and everybody that saw it, I think they’re going to have a hard time not bringing me back. So I’m looking forward to getting back in there for them, hopefully in the near future, and putting on another good show.”

Though the $60,000 Knockout of the Night bonus went to Chris Lytle, Boetsch received extra pay on top of his salary, saying that “[the UFC] takes care of you if you put on an exciting fight.” As for the wild ending to his match last Saturday, Boetsch remembers it like this:

“I knew when (Heath) didn’t put his hands out to catch himself (falling) he was in trouble. His head bounced off the floor, and I knew he was hurt pretty bad. I dropped in and started hitting him, and I knew nobody was home at that point.”

We don’t think he’d have much luck throwing around the UFC’s top-ten-caliber light heavyweights, but we’d love to see Boetsch developed for a while against gatekeeper-types like Jason Lambert and Eric Schafer. The kid’s got potential…

So maybe David Heath will fight at UFC 81 after all. It was widely reported yesterday that David Heath was being dropped from the February 2nd card due to the lack of time to find an opponent. Heath was left alone in the octagon after Tomasz Drwal dropped out because of a knee injury. Well, looks like two fighters have risen to the challenge.

MMA Weekly is saying that Heath will fight Anthony “El Toro” Ruiz on the card, keeping the night at nine fights. Ruiz would be making his debut for the UFC. El Toro has been somewhat of a journeyman in his career and has been impressive in recent years. After three straight losses back in 2005 he has gone 11-2, including winning his last six fights in a row. Heath wouldn’t be the first UFC talent he’s faced, either. He beat Brad Imes – TUF 2 finalist – at the Palace Fighting Championship event last week. He also won via TKO against Bobby Southworth back in November.

But shortly after that report came out, the UFC claimed otherwise:

February 2nd’s UFC 81 card in Las Vegas is back up to a full slate of nine fights after Pennsylvania light heavyweight prospect Tim Boetsch agreed to step into the Octagon to face David Heath. Boetsch (6-1 in pro MMA) replaces Tomasz Drwal, who was forced to withdraw from the Heath bout due to injury.