Rothwell: Why I have to remind everyone who JDS is
Ben Rothwell: “I have to remind everybody who Junior Dos Santos is and what he’s done and why he’s still always a threat to anyone and everyone, and build that up.”
UFC heavyweight Ben Rothwell appeared recently on Submission Radio ahead of his fight with Junior dos Santos on April 10 at UFC Fight Night 86 in Zagreb, Croatia. ‘Big’ Ben has called out JDS a number of times.
Rothwell finally for the fight, but now he is ranked above the former champion in the official rankings:
Champion : Fabricio Werdum
1 Cain Velasquez
2 Stipe Miocic
3 Alistair Overeem
4 Ben Rothwell
5 Junior Dos Santos
6 Andrei Arlovski
7 Travis Browne
8 Josh Barnett
9 Mark Hunt
10 Frank Mir
When I said that, I think he was undisputed, he was the number one contender at the time,” said Rothwell. “So now the position changes. It’s always, what? It’s about me becoming number one contender. So that was what the message was then, and then Overeem got the win on him and put him where he’s at right now. So I have to remind everybody who Junior Dos Santos is and what he’s done and why he’s still always a threat to anyone and everyone, and build that up. But I still believe that with a five-fight win streak, I’m getting what I wanted. I’m gonna be the undisputed number-one contender.
I just stayed positive and I made a far greater statement beating Josh Barnett in the way I did on FOX television, than I would’ve fighting Stipe. So it did work to my advantage. And now this fight – I just follow the path. I’m healthy, I’m ready, I’m good and it is a fight that I called out. So I’m just getting to prove I’m a man of my word. I said I called out Junior Dos Santos – and when all these other heavyweights did not want to fight him and they backed out, here I am. I’m the one that just paid my dues, I’ll do it again. So, the statement continues.
There’s a large group of fans that say I’m number one contender right now, they’d have no problem seeing me fight for the title. I see some of the best journalists out there saying the same thing. You know, these are all MMA analysts, these people are invested in our sport and this is how they feel. So I have some pretty powerful backing. And when I say that I know that I’ll be the number one undisputed contender, I just feel it. Everyone’s like, yes, you know, it just…that’s the way it is. So that’s why I took this opportunity, cause I believe I’ll beat the champion, whichever one it is. Stay healthy and we’re gonna fight this year.