Ben Rothwell thinks it will take 'act of God' to get big-name heavyweight fight

DUBLIN – UFC heavyweight Ben Rothwell is frustrated. He wants a fight against a top contender in the weight class, but said it’s going to take “an act of God” to make that happen.

Rothwell (35-9 MMA, 5-3 UFC), No. 7 in the NOS Energy Drink MMA heavyweight rankings, was scheduled to fight No. 4-ranked Stipe Miocic on Saturday at UFC Fight Night 76 in Dublin. Miocic withdrew from the card less than two weeks out due to injury and the organization was unable to find a suitable replacement.

Rothwell campaigned for a matchup with ex-UFC champ Andrei Arlovski, who admitted that at one point he wanted to fight Rothwell at UFC Fight Night 76, but shortly thereafter Arlovski was booked against Miocic at UFC 195 in January.

Rothwell said he was shocked by the sudden turn of events. With Arlovski and Miocic booked to fight each other, Rothwell has no idea when, where or against whom he could fight next, he said.

“I’m disheartened,” Rothwell told MMAjunkie. “I just found out Andrei Arlovski’s been matched against Stipe Miocic – I’ve been wanting a fight with Andrei and I feel like there was a lot of good vibes and traction. … People wanted to see the fight because two weeks ago Stipe pulled out of the fight. Here I am, I’m in Ireland, I’m here to fight. I’m ready to go. Somehow the guy who got injured and pulled out of this fight gets the fight I’ve been asking for.

“I’m not going to talk about what’s fair, because there’s nothing fair in this sport. I can get past that. It doesn’t matter, fair or not – I’m just completely blindsided. If Andrei got matched up with someone else, fine, whatever. But to get the guy I’m supposed to fight that’s not here to fight me on Saturday? This is all getting announced and the fight (we were supposed to have) hasn’t even happened. It’s absurd.”

Rothwell has been proactive with fight requests since he scored a first-round submission of Matt Mitrione at UFC Fight Night 68 in June. The victory marked his third-straight win inside the octagon and Rothwell said he was ready to face one of the elite in the weight class, and that was Miocic.

After losing out on the biggest fight of his career and seeing it go to someone else, Rothwell is understandably discouraged. He’s said he’s willing to fight any top-tier members of the division, from former champ Junior Dos Santos to Arlovski to Travis Browne.

Unfortunately for Rothwell, though, all those fighters are booked. And at this point he isn’t quite sure of his next move, he said.

“I’m the guy that’s healthy calling out Andrei; isn’t that worth anything?” Rothwell said. “Haven’t they been telling us for years that fighters need to call out guys? I’ve been calling out the top dudes for like the last year now, and not one of the fights that I’ve asked for has happened. I don’t get it. My frustration is obvious. I just don’t know what to think of it. I just try to hold on. Is something bigger going to happen? I just don’t see it now. The only thing that I can see now is an act of God. Like (Alistair) Overeem gets hurt and I get to fight Junior (at UFC on FOX 17 in December).”

Rothwell said Josh Barnett was discussed as a possibility for the future by UFC officials, but that option quickly dissolved because Barnett is apparently focusing on his movie career after a recent win over Roy Nelson at UFC Fight Night 75.

There’s hope from Rothwell that he can enter the octagon before the end of the year or the early months of 2016. At this point, though, he’s not confident in anything, he said, and there are limited options outside of simply waiting for an opportunity to present itself.

“The only fight that I’ve heard thrown around is they’re saying Josh Barnett, but Josh is in like a movie deal,” Rothwell said. “They want me to fight in the same timeframe as Stipe and Andrei, so we’re talking January or February, which is great. I don’t want to wait too long. Josh has a lot of obligations, I guess he’s going to be making a movie, so they’re already kind of like, ‘Oh, we don’t think so.’

“I don’t really know who’s left. OK, maybe Mitrione gets hurt? I’ll fight Travis Browne, absolutely. Everybody is matched up. Everyone I want to fight is now getting fights. I’m just sitting here (with my d-ck in my hands).”

Check out the complete interview with Rothwell above.

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