UFC 104: Ben Rothwell’s mouth writes a check that his body can’t cash
Published by Zach Arnold on October 25th, 2009 in Current Events

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Former IFL champion Ben Rothwell talks a big game but doesn’t back it up. That’s the conclusion you have to come up with after watching him get beat up by Andrei Arlovski and now Cain Velasquez at UFC 104 on Saturday night.

Before the UFC 104 fight, Rothwell was arrogant in comments he made about how good he was and what he was going to do in the fight against a superior amateur wrestler like Velasquez.

“Yeah, 100% believe he’s you know overrated, it’s just because he’s only had six fights, you know, and it’s when you start believing your own hype like that that bad things start to happen and I’m a guy that’s going to change it for him and kind of wake him up, you know, it’s just the way it’s going to be,” Rothwell said in a pre-fight interview for MMA Fanhouse (m m a . f a n h o u s e . c o m).

Rothwell made sure to minimize his previous loss to Arlovski.

“I just gave [Andrei] too much respect and this time I can’t give this opponent that kind of respect, he’s not as tough as you know in my mind he’s not as tough as Andre (Arlovski) and you know I just know that I’m the more well-rounded heavyweight, I have the experience and I have everything here in my favor, I know I’m supposed to win. Alls I do is go out and do it.”

Rothwell showed little respect for Velasquez after Cain’s fight performance against the incredibly big Cheick Kongo, a dangerous striker.

“I’m going to look at all aspects because I think he looks so good on the ground with a guy that knew nothing on the ground so of course you’re going to look good, you know I look at six opponents and what I would do them and I would be a superstar, too, you know, I know in my heart I’m the toughest thing he’s ever fought, he’s never fought anybody as well-rounded as me, you know I’m going to do a lot of things he hasn’t had to deal with before, he has not had to deal with the adversity that I’m going to put on him and I know he’s not going to be the same after.”

Once the fight started, Rothwell didn’t know what hit him. Velasquez smothered him and absolutely brutalized him. Sure, give Ben credit for making it into round two, but he never showed the ability of putting the young Velasquez in danger and beating him.

Rothwell told Fanhouse that he was looking for exposure and that UFC gave him the platform to do it in the semi-main slot. Unfortunately for him, a lot of people saw him get beat up.

“That’s the difference is that being here, at least my fights will mean more. People are now going to see what I can do and you know a lot more people are going to see what I do and it’s going to change it for me that way, I just have to remain focused.”

“You know, and even being here for me is a starting point, everything for me is about getting the belt and retaining the belt and leaving my place in history as one of the best heavyweights ever. That’s my goal, that’s what I’m here for, I’m not going to be satisfied until I have that done, everything until then is just experience and Cain’s another test.”

“I don’t feel like they just put anybody in that position, they know how tough I am, they know what I can do and they know that it was a good move putting me into that position. No offense to my prior opponent, when you’re fighting a guy that nobody knows that’s kind of a tough fight because people did know me and people didn’t know him, I had everything to lose and nothing to gain. Now fighting Cain, everybody’s got the hype, everybody putting it on him, everybody knows who he is, I’ve got everything to gain and it’s exactly where I want to be.”

The contrast between Rothwell and Velasquez going into the fight was dramatic. Cain is a humble, nice guy who doesn’t exactly excite anyone with his charisma but he works hard and he gets the job done. Rothwell, who has a boisterous personality, was yapping his gums going into the fight and now finds himself in a very curious predicament.

“It doesn’t matter, I just want to fight a named opponent, it doesn’t matter if it’s Nogueira, Carwin, Lesnar, or whoever for the belt, whatever, I just want to fight somebody that is a name to continue my progression and let everybody know how that I’m one of the UFC’s elite Heavyweights.”

Ironically, the loss to Velasquez may open the door up to a fight with another IFL veteran, Roy Nelson.

“When I fought [Roy Nelson] nobody knew who he was. Now they see, oh, Roy really is a tough guy, so when or if we do fight again, now people will know how significant a fight that is and I’m definitely looking to you know and it might down the road or I don’t know but when we fight again that’s a fight I definitely want to secure by you know not letting it go to a decision.”

He might want to ask Kimbo Slice about Roy’s ability to take fights to a decision.

As for the real winner, Cain Velasquez, he is looking forward to the future and seeing what happens between Brock Lesnar and Shane Carwin on November 21st in Las Vegas. His mood after beating Rothwell was pretty calm and relaxed.

“Rothwell and Kongo, I wouldn’t say they are the same caliber of stand-up fighters, but I definitely think you know Ben Rothwell is a real tough guy and he was still alive in there to keep going,” Cain said backstage in an official UFC media interview.

There was a lot of heat on referee Steve Mazzagatti for stopping the fight too soon. Mazzagatti, of course, is Dana White’s least favorite referee.

“Yeah, I think it was stopped a little early, you know, Ben Rothwell’s been through a lot of wars and you know he’s had a lot of experience and he’s just a tough guy, a guy that would you know pretty much stay in a fight until he’s pretty much you know done with,” Velasquez told Fanhouse.com in a post-fight interview. “But then again you know Steve Mazzagatti you know the referee saw something and pretty much you know that was I just going to keep beating on him. I think I did pretty well, um, you know I just got to go back and look at the film with my coaches and just analyze every bit of the fight. I felt really good, you know, the whole time I’ve been here and even at the pre-press conference for this fight, um, you know people would just welcome me with open arms and this has been great, you know, fighting in front of my family here, um, yeah that’s all I can say.”

Assessing his fight performance in total, Cain says he has some skills that need to be refined and worked on.

“You know, there’s not just one thing, I think it’s all, it’s stuff on the ground, the little things working on my power and stuff on my feet so it’s just everything getting more well-rounded in all aspects of MMA. I always need to work and get better and um but you know I came in this sport to be a champion and you know I want that belt and the two guys that are fighting for it you know now I think you know they’re at the top of the totem pole and that’s where I want to be.”

As for the November 21st UFC title fight, which man would Velasquez prefer to face?

“That fight, whoever gets the belt, I definitely want to go after them, you know I’m in this sport to be the best and be the champ and that’s what I want to do.”