Rothwell: Why JDS fight makes sense

UFC heavyweight Ben Rothwell appeared recently on Ariel Helwani’s The MMA Hour, and explained why fighting Junior Dos Santos at UFC Fight Night 86 on April 10 makes sense. Rothwell is on a four fight win streak, and is coming off a submission of the Catch master Josh Barnett, who never before tapped in MMA. Dos Santos is coming off a KO loss, and lost two of his past three, by KO. But it makes sense because in two words – everybody’s injured.

“Look at it this way – waiting 10 months is really the [only other] option,” explained Rothwell, as transcribed by Shaun Al-Shatti for MMAFighting.com. “No. Because, Alistair Overeem, even though we already fought, is a top guy. Top guys are top guys, and he’s injured or he’s dealing with things. He says it’s a shoulder. Andrei Arlovski, same thing. He said it’s a shoulder. Cain Velasquez, everybody knows. It’s documented. Cain, back injury.

“Travis Browne was, I guess from everything I’m hearing, supposed to take this fight (against dos Santos). It was a lock. Then things were said, or something happened, and he said that his foot was too injured. So all four of the top guys [are out], and then the other two (Stipe Miocic and Fabricio Werdum), obviously common sense will say something is happening there. So, that leaves Junior.

“Now, Junior dos Santos might be coming off a loss, but he also beat Stipe, he beat Cain, he beat Werdum, and he’s a former UFC heavyweight champion. So that is what it is. He has a lot of people who believe in him still. They think it’s a great fight. A lot of people are picking him still, so that means it’s a great fight for the fans. I know that I have a legion of fans now who wholeheartedly don’t just think I’m going to win this fight, they think I’m going to go on to win the title and defend it. I believe that I’m going to make all of them right, but it starts here with Junior dos Santos. And I believe this one definitely makes me the No. 1 contender, so I accept this challenge.”

“Who knows? In 10 months a lot of things cans happen. So if I have a fight ready now and I’m healthy now, alright, it makes sense. And like I said, it’s still a big name.”

“I think a five-fight win streak in the heavyweight division, winning the way that I am against the competition that I’m winning against … the wealth of fans saying they want this, we know that does affect the UFC.”

“I believe the way the fans will [push for it] with a fifth a victory at heavyweight. And I feel that [push] now, it’s already there, but I feel like a fifth win is going to put it over the top. No one on this planet, except for of course a few critics, and they’re always going to be there, but I feel like 90-plus-percent of everyone will say, I’m the No. 1 contender. And that’s the way I want it.”