Ideally, Rothwell wants Arlovski, in nine months

Ben Rothwell recently spoke with Submission Radio for a wide ranging interview, that naturally touched on his rasslin’ inspired post fight interview. Rothwell’s interview was made notably more gonzo still when interviewer Jon Anik continued to question him after his theatrical close.

Yeah I mean, that was kinda…I said it,” said Rothwell. “You know, he didn’t listen to me. I said ‘I have nothing else to say.’ So immediately he walked over and you can see I’m kind of stunned. I’m like ‘why has this guy walked over here?’ And I think I caught everybody off guard, I really did. I don’t think he even knew how to handle it, and he tried to be super cool at the end.

“He said, you know ‘give back to Rothwell MMA.’ Anyone that’s been watching me or talking to me in the last few months – because I kind of close down [the gym] before my fights – but what interviews they got out of me, it’s all about my gym. So you want to respect me, talk about my gym, ’cause I feel like I’m making history. You know, I don’t just own a gym, I teach my classes all week long, we have a very special thing. We’re in a small part of Wisconsin, you know its Kenosha, Wisconsin. Like, where’s that? And I don’t have any high profile coaches like Greg Jackson or the Blackzilians, yet I’m beating their fighters. So I think that I have something very special and unique going on right now.

Rothwell’s inner Sith Lord entrance too caught the attention of the hardcore fanbase,

Inner Sith Lord. I don’t know – my song, just to clear it up; a lot of people called it ‘Star Wars’. It was from Bram Stoker’s ‘Dracula’, said Rothwell. “It’s an orchestrated song and it’s very powerful to me. As far as coming in, the things that I said after [the fight], you’re going to see with each of these fights that there’s no acting, this is no script, this is just me finally deciding that I’m gonna be me.

“I just need to show – I said this in a couple of interviews now – I’m not going out there, this isn’t fake. This is real, and we’re really out there to hurt each other, and my objective is to get in there and be the scariest human being alive. You know, we’re monsters. Right now the heavyweight division has some of the toughest human beings on this planet, and I’m here to take them out. So I need to step up my game, and that’s what entered the cage the other night.

I go in to end my opponent, okay. My winning ratio shows that. I finish fights. I finish them in the first round; 28 times out of 35. It’s what I do. Come knockout, come submission; you’re going to see. When I say I’m all rounded, you’re going to see just what I mean by that. And the top five heavyweights that we’re going to talk about right now, it doesn’t matter who I get matched up with. I really am telling you I’m in a different place right now. It does not matter. I know what I’m here to do and I’m gonna do it.

Rothwell has loudly voiced his title aspirations, and was entirely respectful about UFC heavyweight champion Fabricio Werdum.

I’m trying to be very clear that I’m on a different level, you know. But first and foremost, they’re just words. It doesn’t mean anything,” said Rothwell. “I want to prove everything I say. Now if and when I do fight Werdum, I want the world to know, as far as I’m concerned he is the baddest heavyweight on the planet. I want them to know he is the toughest challenge to date, so that when I beat him, people understand exactly what I’ve done.

Rothwell called out Andrei Arlovski after downing Mitrione, and believes that Werdum being champion should increase title fight possibilities in the division.

We have to go by history,” said Rothwell. “If Cain won again, there is a higher probably Cain was gonna take some time off, be injured, whatever the case is. I’m just speaking from facts, the history since 2010. I do believe that Werdum being champion, he’s going to fight us. He’s eager to fight and he’s going to fight us guys that are ready and staying healthy.

“And some people say that I made a whole callout to Andrei Arlovski. Junior Dos Santos is the last guy to win and ranked the highest, so technically that would be a good fight to call, but he made an announcement that he was injured. And then he made comments about Alistair Overeem calling him out only because he was injured. So I didn’t do that. I tried to strategically call out what common sense was saying.

“But any of these guys that are out there right now, you know you’re talking Werdum, Cain, JDS, Andrei Arlovski, Stipe. I think any one of them is going to build a good case for myself. So it really doesn’t matter in the grand scheme of things. I’m absolutely prepared for any one of them, because that’s how the UFC rolls. They’re going to do whatever. So we gotta to be prepared for anything. I tried to build a strong case for Andrei Arlovski. I think the fight makes sense. I think if Werdum is waiting till the end of the year and that’s when Junior says he’s going to be ready, well then I guess those two will fight. It doesn’t matter to me though. Whatever happens, I think any one of them opponents is a worthy opponent and it’s going to help me build my case.

Rothwell was KOed by Arlovski when the pair fought at Affliction: Banned in 2008, but views that as ancient history.

I can’t tell you just exact fight logistics, but I’m telling you that when he fought me, I was a boy,” said Rothwell. “I mean I was fighting around, I had a lot fights. I had a lot out there, but mentally I was a boy. I just am not who I am now. I went past being a man and I am just something else completely. As far as to say, I just – I’ve said this before – I’m the martial artist that I’ve always dreamed of being, and I need Andrei Arlovski to face me. And he deserves to see what I can really do. He deserves to see me at my best, because he didn’t. And I got to watch him get his shot, to go on take on Fedor – who at the time was thought of as the best heavyweight ever. So he got that shot, so I feel like I deserve my shot. And we’re going to fight again, and if he beats me again, fine, so be it. But obviously I’m doing what I’m doing for a reason.

In closing, an older, wiser Rothwell said he is not rushing to get back into the Octagon immediately.

Not too soon, not too soon,” he said. “See what became a long time to a lot of people is actually short. See this was nine months. I’ve had a year, and 14 month layoffs for the last six years. So I went from being one of the most active heavyweights on the planet, fighting 11 times in 2002, and in the course of 2006 to 2007 I fought nine times. That’s September to September. And those were televised fights, so it means that these were tougher. They weren’t just chump fights. That was like televised, big deal fights, and I’m getting nine of them in one year. So you know, I was very active at certain parts of my career, now things have changed.

“I’m 35-9. You know, I feel like I’m ancient as far as fighting experience, but I’m 33, so in the heavyweight division I’m not doing too bad. I’m more in my prime, and I feel like I know what I’m doing. Nine months is nothing for me. Nine months is no big deal. I’ll get in the cage and act like I didn’t miss a beat. A year and a half, I wouldn’t like that so much. Three months is too quick, six months even makes me like ahh……nine months is good. I like nine months to a year. I mean I think nine months is just right. That’s what I’ve experienced.