UFC 135 Fight Card Primer: Tim Boetsch vs. Nick Ring

One guy will be looking to stay undefeated at middleweight, while the other will be looking to stay undefeated period. The Barbarian vs. The Promise? It's obvious who wins the nickname war, but this middleweight fight is very hard to call. Tim Boetsch (13-4, 4-3 UFC) will square off with Nick Ring (12-0, 2-0 UFC). 

Neither fighter is currently ranked at middleweight on the USA Today/BE Consensus Rankings, but both fighters are knocking on the door and could creep onto the bottom of the list with a win. This middleweight UFC 135 fight will be the first fight of the televised part of the broadcast, and will be shown on Spike TV.  The Spike show begins at 8 p.m. ET/5 p.m. PT.

How do these two stack up?

Boetsch: 30 years old | 5'11" | 74" reach
Ring: 32 years old | 6'1" | 74" reach

What have these two done recently?

Boetsch: W - Kendall Grove (UD) | L - Phil Davis (SUB) | W - Todd Brown (UD)
Ring: W - James Head (SUB) | W - Riki Fukuda (UD) | W- Yannick Galipeau (SUB)

How did these two get here?

Tim "The Barbarian" Boetsch opened his career with six straight wins before dropping a decision to Vladimir "The Janitor" Matyushenko in the IFL. Oddly, he was brought into the UFC straight off of a loss on 10 days notice, and impressed everyone by dumping David Heath right on his head like a ragdoll and taking a TKO victory in the process. Unfortunately, Boetsch lost two out of his next three (including a TKO loss to UFC 130 main eventer Matt Hamill), and was released from the organization. After three straight wins in the minors, he was brought back at UFC 117 where he won a decision over Todd Brown. A blowout loss to Phil Davis at UFC 123 convinced him that he needed to make the drop to middleweight though. He looked great in his debut at 185, easily controlling Kendall Grove and cruising to a decision victory.

Nick "The Promise" Ring has been an MMA pro for over 9 years now, but got his big break as a castmember on The Ultimate Fighter 11. His unique personality made him one of the more popular cast members, but after beating eventual TUF 11 winner Court McGee, he found out he would require knee surgery. He was out for 14 months, and returned to make his official UFC debut against Riki Fukuda at UFC 127. He picked up a highly controversial decision to remain undefeated. His next bout was against James Head at UFC 131, where he recovered from a slow start to dominate and pick up a third-round submission victory.

Why should you care?

Ring is undefeated but many fans feel it's only a matter of time before his hype train gets de-railed and he loses. Is The Barbarian that man? We'll find out.

You can catch more UFC 135 preview content from Bloody Elbow after the jump.