Nice profile by Yahoo’s Kevin Iole on Tim Boetsch–for some reason its more interesting to read about guys like Boetsch who are trying to make a name in the sport than it is the superstars that have “made it”.

He’d won his first six fights against no-name competition when he got what could have been the break of a lifetime. The International Fight League was looking for an opponent for Vladimir Matyushenko to compete in its semifinals on Aug. 2, 2007, because Matyushenko’s original opponent fell out.

Boetsch was happy to oblige, but there was one hitch: He got the call three days before the fight. It wasn’t exactly the way he wanted to debut against big-time opposition. He had no time to prepare. He had no time to game plan.

He just had to get in and fight.

And though he lost a decision to a far more experienced fighter, he came to a realization. “It really opened my eyes, because I was so raw and really didn’t know much about what I was doing and here I was hanging right there with a guy like Vladdy,” Boetsch said. He got the bout with Heath as a replacement, though he had six weeks to prepare. And though UFC fans had little knowledge of Heath, UFC matchmaker Joe Silva nodded confidently when asked about him.

Boetsch pummeled a guy who by all rights should have dominated him. Though he became severely winded and gassed out in a loss to Matt Hamill in Denver in April, Ciesnolevicz has little doubt that once he gains the experience most UFC fighters have, there are going to be a like more bouts like the one against Heath.

He spent several weeks in Las Vegas training on submissions and submissions defense with Frank Mir and Robert Drysdale and is slowly beginning to evolve into the fighter Ciesnolevicz said could wind up as a major factor at light heavyweight.

“Honestly, the sky’s the limit for him,” Ciesnolevicz said. “He really could reach the top at 205 once he gets the experience. He’s like an infant as a fighter right now. But when he gets the experience, he’s going to be so difficult because he’s a bad matchup for so many of those top guys.

“This is MMA and there really are no sure things, but I really believe Tim can have a great career because of his unbelievable power and his wrestling and the way he works at it. When he’s winning fight after fight in a couple of years, don’t be surprised. There are a lot of guys out there who, if they got the chance, could shock a lot of people and Tim is definitely one of them.”

Tim Boetsch knows he’s a work in progress @ MMA Junkie