Contributor: Earl Montclair
Saturday night, “Big” Ben Rothwell stepped into the cage in his home state of Wisconsin with an opportunity to make a statement. He was on the main card of a PPV and fighting an inflated 205’er who last won at Heavyweight 99 numbered events ago. Just when it looked like the fight was doomed to be the boring-ish, mostly uneventful decision some feared it would be, it happened: Ben Rothwell went insane and I loved every single bit of it.
After roughly 11 minutes of action that saw Ben mostly chasing Vera around the cage as he executed a lateral shuffle and occasionally strike strategy not seen since the modern day classic of Alexander v Slice, Ben Rothwell became a man possessed. It was almost as if someone placed the world on pause and ran into the cage to simultaneously feed Ben a gallon of Espresso, kick him in the shin, give him a hug and tell him Brandon Vera vigorously boned every adult woman in Ben’s family, Then when they pushed play on the universe again, Ben Rothwell was bouncing around the cage like Clay Guida after buttchugging ten 5 Hour Energy drinks. He blitzed “The Truth” with bulldozing forward movement and strikes. Ben was spamming buttons like a heavyweight Nate Marquardt and also not unlike my Grandmother playing Super Mario Bros. Ben toppled Vera with a knee and landed a few more finishing touches on his turtled opponent before Herb Dean stepped in, saving Vera from more insanity-fueled pain.
BUT WE ARE NOT DONE YET, MY FRIENDS!
During his post fight interview with Joe Rogan, Ben Rothwell did something that not nearly enough fighters do: He called someone out. He wasn’t mean or disparaging about it, nor was he concise. After thanking the fans (very nice) Ben went on an exuberant, babbling, almost coherent and beyond wordy rant about giving the fans a great fight next time out. He then asked Joe if he would like to see this exciting spectacle BEFORE HE EVEN SAID THE PERSON’S NAME and then let the cat out of the bag. In this case, a 6’7″ Hawaiian cat named Travis Browne.
So often fighters say “I’ll fight whoever the UFC asks me to” when they are asked what they want next. While that may be true, it certainly doesn’t get the crowd excited and doesn’t provide anything really worth talking about. Ben Rothwell showed that you don’t have to have a rehearsed promo like “Superstar” Billy Grah….I mean Chael Sonnen or say “Sean Sherk, you’re dead!” like BJ Penn did. Hell, you can get up there and excitedly ramble on like a teenage boy describing the first time he touched a boob like Rothwell did. The crowd ate it up and so did I.
Congrats to you “Big” Ben Rothwell. I dig your style and I hope you get the fight you want.
-Earl can be reached @EarlMontclair.
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