UFC Fight Night 68 results: Ben Rothwell chokes Matt Mitrione when takedown fails

Ben Rothwell

NEW ORLEANS – Ben Rothwell continued his unlikely return to the top end of the heavyweight division with a quick submission of Matt Mitrione at UFC Fight Night 68.

The heavyweight bout was the co-main event of today’s UFC Fight Night 68 event at Smoothie King Center in New Orleans. It aired on FOX Sports 1 following prelims on FOX Sports 1 and UFC Fight Pass.

Mitrione (9-4 MMA, 9-4 UFC) chose to pass on a glove touch to start the fight and began circling outside while Rothwell (35-9 MMA, 5-3 UFC) stood in the center of the cage. Mitrione landed a good punch, but then ate a series of hard shots from Rothwell that pushed him back to the cage.

Mitrione shot for a takedown but was stuffed by Rothwell who immediately tried to lock in a guillotine choke, squeezing down and forcing Mitrione to tap with both hands simultaneously.

The submission came at the 1:54 mark of Round 1.

Rothwell entered the night on a two-fight winning streak. Most recently he had scored a surprising upset TKO of Alistair Overeem in September 2014.

Mitrione was on a three-fight winning streak, scoring stoppage wins over Shawn Jordan, Derrick Lewis and Gabriel Gonzaga in his three most recent bouts.

Up-to-the-minute UFC Fight Night 68 results include:

• Ben Rothwell def. Matt Mitrione via submission (front choke) – Round 1, 1:54
• Dustin Poirier def. Yancy Medeiros via TKO (strikes) – Round 1, 2:38
• Brian Ortega def. Thiago Tavares via TKO (punches) – Round 3, 4:10
• Anthony Birchak def. Joe Soto via knockout (punches) – Round 1, 1:37
• Francisco Rivera def. Alex Caceres via knockout (punches) – Round 1, 0:21
• Shawn Jordan def. Derrick Lewis via TKO (punches) – Round 2, 0:48
• Omari Akhmedov def. Brian Ebersole via TKO (injury) – Round 1, 5:00
• Chris Wade def. Christos Giagos via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-27)
• Joe Proctor def. Justin Edwards via technical submission (guillotine choke) – Round 3, 4:58
• Jake Collier def. Ricardo Abreu via split decision (29-28, 28-29, 29-28)
• Jose Quinonez def. Leonardo Morales via submission (rear-naked choke) – Round 1, 2:34

For complete coverage of UFC Fight Night 68, check out the UFC Events section of the site.

(MMAjunkie’s John Morgan contributed to this report on site in New Orleans.)