FanHouse UFC 81

Former UFC light heavyweight Tim Boetsch will be back in the cage on Aug. 15 in a matchup against IFL veteran Aaron Stark at King of the Cage "Thunderstruck" in Everett, Washington.

In his UFC debut at UFC 81, Boetsch (8-3) became an immediate fan favorite with his dismantling of David Heath on ten days' notice. But one win and two losses later were enough for him to be handed his walking papers after UFC 96 in March.

In this interview with FanHouse, Boetsch talks about his upcoming fight, his new training camp with Matt Hume at AMC Kickboxing & Pankration and his possible future with either Strikeforce or a UFC return.

When Brock Lesnar faced Frank Mir at UFC 81 on February 2, 2008, it looked in the first few seconds like your typical case of a bigger, stronger guy whipping his smaller, weaker opponent, as Lesnar took Mir down and pounded on him.

But then things changed dramatically, and it looked in the last few seconds like your typical case of a Brazilian jiu jitsu black belt fighting a Brazilian jiu jitsu white belt: Lesnar left his leg exposed, and Mir had no trouble getting him in a kneebar and forcing him to tap.

So with one day to go before Lesnar gets his rematch with Mir at UFC 100, Lesnar says he knows he needs to approach the fight differently than he did the last one: He says he has to be a complete mixed martial artist, and not just a big, strong wrestler.

At UFC 81, former WWE pro wrestler Brock Lesnar will make his UFC debut against Frank Mir, a former UFC heavyweight champ. Here's how UFC is promoting the event:

UFC President Dana White says in that promotional video, "If Brock Lesnar can back up all the things he's saying, he might become the biggest star in mixed martial arts."

White might be right about that -- Lesnar is already a big star among wrestling fans, and he's probably the second-most famous fighter UFC has under contract -- but making Lesnar a UFC star would be bad for the sport of mixed martial arts.

For MMA as a sport to be taken seriously by the general public, it needs the general public to think the best fighters in the sport are legitimate athletes. If someone like Lesnar can make a transition from pro wrestling to MMA stardom, it will be hard for the sport to be taken any more seriously than wrestling is. I realize that Lesnar has credentials as a real athlete in collegiate wrestling, I'm glad White got Lesnar to sign up with UFC, and I'm curious to see how Lesnar does. But I'm concerned that if Lesnar succeeds, he'll be doing it at the expense of the sport of mixed martial arts.

In the months since UFC heavyweight champion Randy Couture announced his retirement, one of the questions that was never answered was: Who's the new heavyweight champion?

We'll find out on Feb. 2 at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, when Tim Sylvia will fight Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira at UFC 81, with the winner becoming UFC heavyweight champ. The fight, which had been rumored for a while, was officially announced tonight during UFC 79.

The Sylvia-Nogueira matchup adds to what was already an excellent card on UFC 81 for people who love watching heavyweights. UFC 81 will also feature the UFC debut of heavyweight Brock Lesnar, the former WWE and NCAA champion, who's taking on former UFC heavyweight champ Frank Mir.