Ben Rothwell (34-9 MMA, 4-3 UFC) nabbed by far the biggest victory of his UFC career when scored a first-round knockout of Alistair Overeem (37-14 MMA, 2-3 UFC) in tonight’s UFC Fight Night 50 co-main event at Foxwoods Casino Resort in Ledyard, Conn.
Rothwell has been a member of the UFC roster since 2009, but the win over Overeem marked the first time he has strung together consecutive victories. In turn, the 32-year-old puts his name on the short list of title contenders in the UFC heavyweight division.
With divisional kingpin Cain Velasquez set to put his belt up for grabs against Fabricio Werdum at UFC 180 in November, Rothwell delivered the kind of performance necessary to get within striking distance of a championship bout.
As Rothwell pulled off the biggest upset of the night, fans, media and other figures from the MMA community were following along on Twitter. Check out the top reactions.
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RT If you're ready for ANOTHER heavyweight showdown!
#UFCFightNight http://t.co/YLhy56Bogj—
#UFCFightNight (@ufc) September 06, 2014
More heavyweight action on tap. Tonight’s co-main event: No. 7 Alistair Overeem (37-13, 1 NC) vs. Ben Rothwell (33-9).—
MMAFighting.com (@MMAFighting) September 06, 2014
Right my bets are going good and i need the Reem to win but every time i bet the Reem he loses! Will he let me down again! ? #UFCFightNight—
John Maguire (@MaguireTheOne) September 06, 2014
BIG BEN ROTHWELL had an amazing post fight speach after he beat Vera…. Because of that I'm cheering for him.
@ufc—
TJ Grant (@TJ_Grant) September 06, 2014
OVEREEM has technical advantage in this fight.
Rothwell needs to bring it and take it to him—
TJ Grant (@TJ_Grant) September 06, 2014
Ben Rothwell walks out first for our co-main event. He walks to "Uprising" by Muse.—
Matt Erickson (@MMAjunkieMatt) September 06, 2014
All business Overeem. No dancing on the way to the octagon.—
Mike Bohn (@MikeBohnMMA) September 06, 2014
I'm digging @Alistairovereem walk out tee might try to accidentally walk off with one at the gym—
ike vallie-flagg (@IKEVF) September 06, 2014
When even bigger men enter the cage somebody is going to go into hibernation @ufc #dontblink #overeem—
Andy Ogle (@thelittleaxe) September 06, 2014
Overeem didnt win a PRIDE GP—
Ian Bain (@MMAOpinIAN) September 06, 2014
Rothwell wobbles Overeem! Wow. But Overeem is OK.—
(@UFCONFOX) September 06, 2014
Rothwell looks like such a moron with his hands like that—
Rian Scalia (@rianscalia) September 06, 2014
Overeem doesn’t work in the clinch anymore?—
Marcelino Evil (@KCBanditMMA) September 06, 2014
And that's that. Rothwell drops Overeem and finishes him on the ground. #UFCFightNight—
Bloody Elbow (@BloodyElbow) September 06, 2014
Oh that dance……—
Stipe Miocic (@smiocic) September 06, 2014
WOW!!! Rothwell just finished Overeem. #UFCFightNight—
Steven Grossi (@SteveOGrossi) September 06, 2014
My chin > Overeem’s chin—
Matt Brown (@MattBrownM2) September 06, 2014
Damn that's a bummer man—
ike vallie-flagg (@IKEVF) September 06, 2014
OMG—
Jeremy Botter (@jeremybotter) September 06, 2014
Rothwell just destroyed Overeem. First-round KO.—
Guilherme Cruz (@guicruzzz) September 06, 2014
Damn, Overeem looked bad.—
Jack Slack (@JackSlackMMA) September 06, 2014
.@benfowlkesMMA is on vacation, but we should probably all text him "IFL never die!" right now.—
Dann Stupp (@DannStupp) September 06, 2014
Oh, Overeem.—
Chad Dundas (@chaddundas) September 06, 2014
Jaw of pure glass…—
mark miller (@fightshark_com) September 06, 2014
Wow. Rothwell via first round TKO. More impressive? That jig afterwards. Big Ben getting down.—
Ariel Helwani (@arielhelwani) September 06, 2014
Big Ben with a huge KO! Love this freakin card!—
Dave Sholler (@Sholler_UFC) September 06, 2014
Rothwell smoked Overeem. What a disaster this UFC run has been.—
Duane Finley (@DuaneFinleyMMA) September 06, 2014
Overeem is the biggest bust in MMA history.—
CagePotato.com (@cagepotatomma) September 06, 2014
And with that, Overeem's UFC dance party should end.—
Mike Chiappetta MMA (@MikeChiappetta) September 06, 2014
Rothwells dance was incredible, maybe better than the ko—
Brian Stann (@BrianStann) September 06, 2014
Damn. Fair or not, Overeem will always be criticized for his chin.—
Anton Tabuena (@antontabuena) September 06, 2014
That @mattmitrione and @BenRothwellMMA parlay played very nice tonight!!! I guess we can safely say the reem is a bust?—
Ben Askren (@Benaskren) September 06, 2014
Why the need to dance on an opponent you just defeated? #NotCool—
Jackson's MMA (@JacksonsMMA) September 06, 2014
Nice win for Big Ben. #MMAKickboxing is different than Ring #Kickboxing—
Duke Roufus (@dukeroufus) September 06, 2014
Fucking dance moves!!! @RothwellFighter @ufc—
TJ Grant (@TJ_Grant) September 06, 2014
LMAO!—
Mauro Ranallo (@mauroranallo) September 06, 2014
Congrats @RothwellFighter awesome victory.—
Antonio Pezao Silva (@BigfootSilva) September 06, 2014
I reckon we need Rothwell versus the winner of Nelson v Hunt. #BattleOfTheBigBoys—
Dan Hardy (@danhardymma) September 06, 2014
Alistair Overeem has now been knocked out 9 times in MMA — more than every other fighter in the UFC.—
Adam Martin (@MMAdamMartin) September 06, 2014
The days of Alistair Overeem as a 4-to-1 favorite over people are probably over.—
Chuck Mindenhall (@ChuckMindenhall) September 06, 2014
Rothwell's funky two-step is my favorite post-fight celebration since Min Soo Kim's funky Harlem Shake swag after mangling Sean O'Haire.—
Jordan Breen (@jordanbreen) September 06, 2014
Stay off the horse meat brah—
Cole Miller (@colemillerATT) September 06, 2014
Poor Reem. He just can't take the punishment anymore. That's like six KO's too many on his record. Good job by Rothwell.—
caposa (@GrabakaHitman) September 06, 2014
Safe to say Rothwell will never be on dancing with the stars! #UFC—
Derek Brunson (@DerekBrunsonMMA) September 06, 2014
Was Rothwell doing the #AliShuffle and his post fight interview very much sounded like Ali's interview after beating Foreman?!—
Siyar (@Bahadurzada) September 06, 2014
Awesome finish @rothwellfighter . I told people U were going to win. Always need to believe. fb.me/77wJ7r2LR—
Roy Nelson (@roynelsonmma) September 06, 2014
Congrats to my old sparring Big Ben Rothwell on his KO win on Overreem.
Miletich Fighting Systems still wrecking shop:)
#MFS—
Sam Hoger (@SamHoger) September 06, 2014
.@RothwellFighter victory dance? Yes. Yes he did. #UFCFightNight vine.co/v/OuttpIBLIMW—
#UFCFightNight (@ufc) September 06, 2014
UFC Fight Night 50 results: Ben Rothwell shocks Alistair Overeem in opening round dlvr.it/6qVfjS via @MMAjunkie—
(@MMAjunkie) September 06, 2014
For more on UFC Fight Night 50, check out the UFC Events section of the site.
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