DENVER, September 24 – Another test down for UFC light heavyweight champion Jon Jones. The youngest titleholder in UFC history not only proved that he could absorb some thunder from Quinton “Rampage” Jackson in the UFC 135 main event at Pepsi Cen…
DENVER, September 24 – Another test down for UFC light heavyweight champion Jon Jones. The youngest titleholder in UFC history not only proved that he could absorb some thunder from Quinton “Rampage” Jackson in the UFC 135 main event at Pepsi Center Saturday night, but that he could fight into the championship rounds and still emerge victorious, as he submitted the former 205-pound belt holder in the fourth round.
“The gameplan was to prove that we could strike with Quinton Jackson,” said the 24-year old Jones, who retained the belt he won from Mauricio Ruain March for the first time. “He insulted my striking, so I worked with Mike Winkeljohn, and we cleaned up my striking to prove a point.”
“I’m in the best shape of my life,” said Jackson. “I thought he was all hype, but the kid is good. My hat is off to him. I did my best. This is the best Rampage ever, and he had me memorized.”
Jones came out for the fight in a bizarre crouch that baffled the crowd but didn’t deter Jackson from the task at hand, as he avoided Jones’ first takedown attempt. Jones was able to grab hold of Jackson though, and the two locked up against the fence, a sequence highlighted by knees and a hard left elbow by the champion. Finally, after a stalemate, the two broke, with Jackson looking to set up some of his bombs as Jones pecked away with kicks from long range. At the three minute mark, Jackson shot off his first bad-intentioned hooks, but Jones got out of the way before they landed. After some more long distance strikes, Jones bulled Jackson into the fence again, almost catching him with a spinning back elbow. After breaking, Jones missed a wild kick, and Jackson was just as wild in missing some haymakers before the bell.
Jackson shot out of his corner to start round two, catching a kick and just coming short of landing a flush right hand. Jones locked up with the challenger again, but a takedown attempt came up empty. With the crowd chanting “Rampage, Rampage,” Jackson continued to stalk, but Jones’ strikes continued to find their mark. They just weren’t flowing in combination, which gave Jackson ample time to recover and reset. And as flashy as Jones got, Jackson looked unimpressed, as his defense was solid enough to shrug off whatever came his way. Jones was the busier of the two though, enabling him to take another round.
Jones’ takedowns continued to come up empty early in round three, but eventually, nearly 90 seconds in, he softened up Jackson with leg kicks and got him to the mat. Jones quickly transitioned into the full mount position, but just when it looked like Jones was about to finish, Jackson, now bleeding from a cut over the right eye, found his way back to his feet, and the crowd erupted. Jones landed two hooks when the action resumed, and a kick to the knee brought a disdainful look from Jackson, who nearly chased Jones across the Octagon to throw looping haymakers that came up far short. As the round closed, Jones shot for another takedown, but couldn’t get it.
Visiting the championship rounds for the first time, Jones came out fast and was met by Jackson, who got taken down against the fence. Jones looked for a rear naked choke after landing a few strikes, and within seconds he sunk it in. Jackson did his best to hang on, but there was no escape, and he was forced to tap out at 1:14 of the round.
With the win, Jones improves to 14-1; Jackson falls to 32-9. Next up for Jones is a bout with former training partner Rashad Evans.
“I thought it was a good fight,” said Evans when brought into the Octagon after the bout. “Jon Jones looked impressive. This (the title fight) is a good opportunity. I’m glad the UFC put it together.”
“I’m not gonna say much leading up to this fight, I’m just gonna prove it,” said Jones. “He (Evans) has ruined my special night twice in a row now.”
DENVER, September 24 –Before the end came, with one second left in the first round, UFC Hall of Famer Matt Hughes looked sharp and ready for anything Josh Koscheck had to throw at him in the UFC 135 co-main event Saturday night at Pepsi Center. But e…
DENVER, September 24 –Before the end came, with one second left in the first round, UFC Hall of Famer Matt Hughes looked sharp and ready for anything Josh Koscheck had to throw at him in the UFC 135 co-main event Saturday night at Pepsi Center. But eventually, the younger and faster welterweight contender caught up the 37-year old Hughes, stopping him with a series of thudding strikes that gave the Illinois native his second consecutive KO defeat. See Koscheck post-fight interview
“I’m not retiring,” said Hughes. “I’m gonna tell the UFC to put me up on the shelf and we’ll see what happens after that.” See Hughes post-fight interview
“I just want to thank Matt Hughes for taking this fight this late in his career,” said Koscheck, who took the bout on short notice after an injury forced Diego Sanchez out. “He’s a legend and I’m really glad that I got the opportunity to fight a legend like him.”
The two welterweights got acquainted with each other on the feet in the first round, with Koscheck scoring with a blazing fast combination, and Hughes getting in a few jabs and a solid lead left hook. As the round progressed, it was clear that Koscheck wanted to finish things with his right uppercut, but Hughes eluded the punch on a number of occasions as the crowd chanted his name. A takedown attempt by Koscheck later in the frame was turned back, but in the final minute, Koscheck began scoring with his right hand, rocking the former two-time welterweight champion. Eventually, the barrage of shots forced Hughes to the mat, where Koscheck continued throwing and landing right hands on his downed foe. Eventually, referee Mario Yamasaki had seen enough, calling a halt to the bout at the 4:59 mark.
With the win, Koscheck, in his first fight since a December 2010 loss to UFC welterweight champion Georges St-Pierre, improves to 18-5; Hughes falls to 46-9.
ROTHWELL vs. HUNT
Former K-1 kickboxing superstar Mark Hunt showed off some groundwork in his big three round win over Ben Rothwell, unanimously decisioning his foe in a grueling heavyweight scrap. See post-fight interview
Scores were 29-28, 29-27, and 30-27 for “The Super Samoan,” who evens his MMA record at 7-7; Rothwell falls to 31-8.
After having his difficulties closing the distance on the hard-punching Hunt, Rothwell got the takedown two minutes in and appeared to be close to finishing things as he got the full mount position. Hunt showed off some solid defense though, as he got out of trouble and got to his feet. In the final 90 seconds, the action got sloppy, but Rothwell emerged with a cut over his right eye before finishing strong with another takedown and some ground strikes.
Hunt was breathing heavy after the first five minutes, but he began firing off hard leg kicks and punches to the head to keep Rothwell at bay, and with 3:20 left, he even scored a takedown of his own, with the ensuing ground strikes reopening the cut over Rothwell’s eye. Unable to escape, Rothwell took a pounding for the rest of the round, with Hunt even getting amazingly close to pulling off an armbar before the bell rang.
Rothwell, game, but exhausted, had to be helped to his corner after round two, and after taking some shots from Hunt, he was on wobbly legs again. Hunt again found a positive place to work on the canvas, and he piled up the points with his ground strikes. After the second re-start of the round by referee Adam Martinez, both fighters were out of gas, and though Hunt tried to land a finishing haymaker, Rothwell was able to elude danger and make it to the bell.
After a fast start by Browne (12-0-1), the opening round settled into a slow moving pattern where neither fighter did much to take control, but in the final stages of the stanza, Browne landed some solid strikes and then ended the round with a sequence of ground and pound that put him in good stead heading into the second.
Another slow start epitomized round two, with a flurry of hard shots by Browne two minutes in breaking up the boos from the crowd. The tough Liverpool product wouldn’t go down though, which earned him the respect of his opponent. But Broughton (15-6-1) was doing precious little offensively, and when he fell backwards to the mat after attempting to grab Browne’s head, “Hapa” got in a dominant position on the canvas, and he finished the round with another series of ground strikes.
There was little of note to recommend in the third round, as Browne dominated the majority of the frame on the mat. Broughton had a brief moment of light when he grabbed his opponent’s arm for a kimura attempt, but Browne was never in any serious danger as he rode out the rest of the bout.
DIAZ vs. GOMI
Nate Diaz was brilliant in his return to lightweight after a four fight run at welterweight, as he put on a precision striking and jiu-jitsu clinic against former PRIDE champion Takanori Gomi before finishing off “The Fireball Kid” via submission in the first round. See post-fight interview
After working his jab effectively to open the bout, Diaz dropped Gomi briefly with the first hard left he landed. Gomi rose quickly, missing a couple wide haymakers as Diaz picked away at him. The Stockton standout was extremely confident, and Gomi was rapidly getting outclassed, and when the fight went to the mat, it was game over, as Diaz went from triangle choke to the finishing armbar that brought the tap out at 4:27 of the round.
With the win, Diaz improves to 14-7; Gomi falls to 32-8 with 1 NC. Diaz’ older brother Nick fought Gomi in a 2007 PRIDE bout, submitting him in the second round before the bout was later ruled a no contest.
Three days before his 23rd birthday, Quinton Jackson scored a submission victory over Kenneth Williams in a Gladiator Challenge show in California that lifted his record as a professional mixed martial artist to 10-1.A month later, on July 29, 2001, he…
Three days before his 23rd birthday, Quinton Jackson scored a submission victory over Kenneth Williams in a Gladiator Challenge show in California that lifted his record as a professional mixed martial artist to 10-1.
A month later, on July 29, 2001, he made his PRIDE debut in Japan against Kazushi Sakuraba before over 27,000 fans. Life would never be the same for the native of Memphis, Tennessee.
A little more than ten years later, Jackson is facing a young man in Jon Jones who knows what it’s like to get his life turned upside down at the age of 23. The New Yorker known as “Bones” became the youngest champion in UFC history earlier this year when he stopped Mauricio “Shogun” Rua to take the light heavyweight title. Now 24, Jones will defend his crown against someone in “Rampage” who has a pretty good idea of what it’s like to be in his shoes.
“I was hungry,” recalled Jackson of his first days in Japan, where he went from obscurity to stardom in the matter of that one fight (a loss) with the legendary Sakuraba. “I was just coming into PRIDE and I knew I was being fed to the wolves, but I made due with my situation. I was happy with what was going on, and I was still humble. I didn’t let the stardom that PRIDE brought go to my head because as soon as you fought in PRIDE, the welcome that the Japanese fans gave you couldn’t be compared to what you got in America. It was really big, it was in the newspapers and all over the news the next day and it was mainstream a long time ago. I was just happy to be there and finally making money at the sport I loved. Back then I didn’t hate training as much because I didn’t have so many bumps and bruises. (Laughs) Back then it was all love.”
He pauses, almost as if transporting himself back to the Land of the Rising Sun, where he made his name as one of the best light heavyweights in the world.
“I miss those Japanese fans,” Jackson continues. “I can honestly say that the Japanese fans were the best fans I ever fought in front of. I like the England crowd as well, but the Japanese fans respect you so much that they’re quiet, so you could hear your cornermen. You don’t get that nowhere else in the world.”
Back then, Jackson was as happy go lucky a fighter as you would find. Hilarious in interviews, always joking, it wasn’t until the lights went down and he stepped into the ring that “Rampage” came out. He went 12-5 in PRIDE over his five years there, with Igor Vovchanchyn, Murilo Bustamante, Chuck Liddell, Ricardo Arona, and Murilo ‘Ninja’ Rua among his victims.
After a WFA win over Matt Lindland in 2006, the next stop was the UFC, and while it wasn’t his first stop in his home country as a professional, he did notice that there was a new acceptance of the sport in the United States, and with such widespread acclaim came casual fans who didn’t exactly know who the wisecracking guy with the chain around his neck was. But regardless of the reintroduction process, he never lost the fans who had been following him through the wonders of Pay-Per-View and the internet.
“Those are the hardcore MMA fans that were fans before it got mainstream,” said Jackson. “Those are the fans that know a lot about the sport and they’ve seen our past fights. They’ve been with us for a long time, they know MMA a little bit more and they know that everybody can’t win all the time. The new fans, they’re kinda like fair-weather fans. They’ll be cheering for you in the beginning until you start getting your ass whupped. Then they don’t cheer for you. They’ll start booing you and stuff like that and they don’t have respect for the fighters.”
It resembles the backlash a lot of fighters, including Jackson, and now including Jones, go through. And though Jackson may not like being flavor of the week one day and out of favor the next, he’s not about to change who he is.
“Nothing’s gonna change my personality – no titles no money, nothing like that,” he said. “I always stayed grounded and stayed humble because I look at this job as a career, just like a doctor or a lawyer or schoolteacher. I don’t think I’m better than anybody else because I’m a professional fighter. A lot of fighters and people, when they have high-profile jobs, they think they’re better than other people, and it can go to your head if you’re not a grounded person. That’s why people don’t understand when I say this is my career and my job. It’s not that I don’t love the sport, it’s that it being a job keeps me grounded. I have a strong father who talks to me all the time, and one of the things he instilled in me as a kid is that ‘don’t let money make you; you make money.’ So people can make fun of me and say I’m just doing this as a job, but that’s just the American Dream. That’s what we were taught our whole lives – go to school, get an education, so you can get a good career so you can make money. That’s me, I’m living the American Dream.”
Frankly speaking, he is. A successful fighter who also had a big role in the hit A-Team movie a couple years back, Jackson is doing all right for himself after surviving various ups and downs both in and out of the Octagon. Yet those trials and tribulations make him appreciate what he has now.
“I thank God all the time and I’m very blessed,” he said. “I keep it real – I’m not an educated person. I went to college, but I’m not one of those people who thinks they’re smarter than everybody else. I’m intelligent, but I’m not educated, so there’s no way I could be making this type of money in another career. I wasn’t gonna be a doctor or a lawyer, so I’m happy that I can help my parents out and put my little sister through college and buy Lamborghinis and go on vacation and have a nice house to live in and leave stuff for my kids. I’m happy and I’m blessed.”
In fact, the only time you’ll see him stray from that frame of mind is a) in the middle of an arduous training camp, or b) when discussing his first loss in the UFC, a controversial five round decision defeat at the hands of Forrest Griffin in July of 2008 that cost him his UFC light heavyweight title. He’s lost before and he’s lost since, but this is the one he can’t let go of.
“I just don’t feel like I lost that fight,” said Jackson. “When I fought Ninja (Rua), I thought I lost that fight until I went back and watched it. And when I fought (Lyoto) Machida, he rocked me in the last round, and when I got rocked, I didn’t remember all the good stuff I did until I watched the fight. So when I think I lost a fight, I’m the first one to say it. And I just feel like I didn’t lose that fight with Forrest. I was the champion, and you’ve got to beat the champion to be the champ. He injured me in the fight, he did a great job and had a great gameplan, but I felt like I did just enough to win that fight. I dropped him a couple times and I feel like I won 3-2, but they took my belt away. With Shogun (Rua) and Machida, everyone thought Shogun beat Machida the first time they fought, but Machida kept his belt and they clearly said ‘you’ve got to beat the champ to be the champ.’ So everybody was confused. I felt my fight was more decisive than Machida’s in being clear that I won. It is what it is, but it does bother me.”
Since that loss, Jackson has gone 4-1, with the only defeat coming via decision to Rashad Evans in 2010. Sandwiching that defeat are wins over Wanderlei Silva, Keith Jardine, Machida, and Matt Hamill, earning him a shot at Jones’ belt this Saturday night in Denver. It’s the fight he’s been waiting for in more ways than one, but most importantly to show that he belongs at the top of the 205-pound heap.
“I think it’s very important for me to get that belt back so I can show the world that they made a mistake,” said Jackson. “I want to show that I’m still here, and I still train like a champion and I haven’t stopped training like that since that fight.”
As for Jones, Jackson admits that the phenom “is a very exciting fighter,” but when asked what he sees when he looks at the champion, he simply says “fresh meat.”
If the sports world wasn’t so predictable, it would make you shake your head in dismay. 1) A talented athlete comes out of nowhere with a fresh approach, otherworldly talent and athleticism, and a charisma that cuts across all demographics. 2) Next, …
If the sports world wasn’t so predictable, it would make you shake your head in dismay.
1) A talented athlete comes out of nowhere with a fresh approach, otherworldly talent and athleticism, and a charisma that cuts across all demographics. 2) Next, he reaches the top of his profession in breakneck speed and is celebrated for being his sport’s new phenom. 3) Then, the backlash starts. All of a sudden he’s too good for his own good, and in need of a little drop down the ladder. 4) Once that happens, the smug smirks appear and the wait begins for his climb back after a fall from grace. 5) If he can do that, all is well with the world again, and he is celebrated for his courageous return.
Heard that story before? Probably at least a dozen times if you’re over the age of 30. But if you think mixed martial arts was immune from it, think again. You’re watching it right now with UFC light heavyweight champion Jon Jones, the 24-year old who has gone through steps one and two already, while currently experiencing step three in the lead-up to his UFC 135 main event bout with Quinton “Rampage” Jackson this Saturday in Denver.
Yet if you ask him how life has changed for him since March, when he became the youngest champion in UFC history when he snagged the belt from Mauricio “Shogun” Rua via TKO, he’ll say not much at all.
“At first there was a lot more media, a lot more interviews and publicity things, and now that that’s over, training camp’s the same, the team chemistry’s the same, and the only thing that’s changed is my work ethic,” said Jones. “Before, I was training to be a champion, and now that I am a champion, I think I’ve taken my work ethic to a different level. Sometimes I feel as if I’m overtraining. My coaches really have to encourage me to go sit down somewhere. So the only thing that I can honestly see that’s changed is the amount of people who know my name, and sincerely, my work ethic has changed so much.”
In other words, Jon Jones is still Jon Jones. Despite what you may read on Twitter or hear from some of his peers, the kid from upstate New York hasn’t all of a sudden become an out of control ogre swallowing up interview after interview in a quest for world domination. He can laugh that description off, but when the backlash to him becoming world champion and the new face of the UFC started to hit, he noticed it, and it hit hard.
“I did feel the hate,” he said. “Me being a young guy and a guy who wanted to be liked, at first it hurt me a lot. But what I learned very fast is that I need to take my emotions out of my work sometimes, especially when it comes to other people’s opinions. I’m a positive being, that’s my nature, so I’m not a person who ever tweets swear words or ever tries to purposely try to put someone down or hurt them. I’m not a person of ill will. I genuinely try to share knowledge on self-confidence and religion and treating your neighbor right and believing in yourself and working hard and loving your family. And I know in my heart that I’m not doing the wrong thing, so if I’m just trying to help, and people are misconstruing it, I’ve learned not to worry about what I can’t control anymore. And I think in the long run, the people who get my message and get what I’m trying to share, which is nothing but positivity, those are the people that appreciate it.”
Lesson number one – you can be the nicest person in the world, and someone will hate you for it. When you become successful, those numbers multiply. Jones found that out the hard way, but one of his teammates in the Jackson MMA camp, middleweight contender Brian Stann, put his mind at ease with tales of his own dealings with the internet underbelly.
“I was talking to Brian Stann and he said ‘hey man, you think you get hate messages, I get called a murderer, people think I’m an advocate of war, and I get a lot of hate. And the thing is, the people who actually love you Jon, they’re probably gonna read your interview or watch your youtube video, and think ‘wow, what a great guy.’ Most of the people who write those messages, they’re people with nothing else to do but to bring somebody else down. Only people that are below you can pull you down.’ That stuck with me. So I learned that as long as I know that I have good intentions, I don’t allow people to misconstrue my words and pull me down.”
If it sounds like a classic case of a gifted athlete learning his craft on the job, it is. And remember, in addition to only being 24, Jones only has 14 pro fights. Yes, he’s dazzled in all of them (even in his lone loss, via disqualification to Matt Hamill in 2009), but compared to the experience possessed by his challenger this weekend, “Bones” can still be considered a rookie.
Luckily, the engaged father of two is a family man and one focused on the future, so he has sidestepped the pitfalls many in his position have been engulfed by, so while the tendency would be for the Man of the Hour to embrace his new celebrity for months and months, Jones took a brief break (and a well deserved one considering he had back to back camps for Rua and his previous foe, Ryan Bader), and got back to the gym.
“It wasn’t tough to get back to work,” said Jones. “I was traveling so much and eating so unhealthy and tired of being on airplanes every Friday night, so I was dying to get back into the gym. I was starting to get a lot of messages from fans saying ‘don’t you think all this PR work and traveling is taking away from your training?’ And they were absolutely right. So I’m making up for all the time I took off after my Shogun fight. This has been the longest training camp of my career as well, so I definitely feel as if I’ve evolved and elevated in my technique and in my spirit and my work ethic.”
As for the old adage that it’s harder to defend the title than win it, Jones disagrees.
“I don’t think it’s harder to defend a title than win it,” he said. “I think every fight’s just another fight. It’s not necessarily a bigger fight than the last one, or even my very first fight, or my UFC debut. They’re all big fights and I think it’s really important to just focus on loving the journey instead of focusing on the destination. Being a champion, I don’t really feel as if I’ve crossed the finish line. There is no finish line, and I’m really enjoying that journey. Rampage is just a part of that. So I don’t think there’s a difference between winning the belt and keeping it. Each and every fight is a completely different experience than the other one, and I’m just enjoying the journey and working as if it’s just another fight.”
That’s a good outlook to have, but fighting “Rampage” Jackson is not just another fight, especially since things have gotten progressively heated between the two since the UFC 135 main event was announced. Jones has done his best to keep his cool while firing off his own verbal volleys to keep up with the king of the one-liners, but make no mistake about it – Jones doesn’t want this part of the journey to end with a loss to Jackson. Anyone but him.
“Leading into the Forrest Griffin fight, Rampage made a quote saying ‘Forrest Griffin can’t bust a grape with his hands,’” recalled Jones. “It’s the same exact quote he said about me, that I can’t bust a grape with my hands and that I have no punching power. So I think he’s failing to realize that this is mixed martial arts and not boxing, and the game’s not based around having punching power; it’s based around having finesse and skill, having discipline, and having passion for the game. I think I’m excelling when it comes to each and every one of those categories when it comes to Rampage. He would love to be the world champion again, but I don’t think he really lives the lifestyle to become the world champion again. I think he wants it handed to him, and I’m at a stage in my career where if I get hit in practice, I go home and I’m slightly depressed about it. I don’t like to get hit at all, and now we’re talking about actually losing a whole fight? That’s just not where I’m at right now mentally. I respect Rampage a lot, he’s got awesome knockout power, and I think he’s really banking on a big hit to win this fight. But I’m gonna make sure I break him down very early in the fight to take that punching power away from him right away. And I couldn’t imagine giving my belt away to someone who’s half-passionate about doing what it takes to get the belt.”
Fighting words indeed, and that’s the great thing about Jon Jones. As calm, cool, and collected as he is outside the Octagon, when it’s time to fight, he’s something completely different and something completely dangerous to the person standing across from him. That’s a fighter, and whether you’re on board the bandwagon or not, he’s not going anywhere.
“I know I’m a good person,” said Jones, “but as an athlete, I do have a chip on my shoulder, I do have a big ego as an athlete, and I do believe that I’m the best and I do want to be the best. That’s something I can’t control, and I really can’t hide my pride in the Octagon because I work my butt off to be the best. I’m not ashamed of it anymore.”
UFC 135, which is headlined by the light heavyweight championship bout between Jon Jones and Quinton “Rampage” Jackson and the welterweight bout between Matt Hughes and Josh Koscheck, airs live on Pay-Per-View from the Pepsi Center in Denver, Color…
UFC 135, which is headlined by the light heavyweight championship bout between Jon Jones and Quinton “Rampage” Jackson and the welterweight bout between Matt Hughes and Josh Koscheck, airs live on Pay-Per-View from the Pepsi Center in Denver, Colorado at 9pm ET / 6pm PT. Fans can also tune in to Spike TV at 8pm ET / 5pm PT to see live UFC 135 preliminary bouts, and those who “like” the UFC on Facebook can see the rest of the prelim bouts at 6:40 pm ET / 3:40 pm PT.
If you walked into the post-fight press conference for UFC 115 in June of 2010 and asked who lost that night, your eyes would have instantly gravitated to heavyweight Ben Rothwell. In fact, the Kenosha, Wisconsin native looked so dejected that guessing…
If you walked into the post-fight press conference for UFC 115 in June of 2010 and asked who lost that night, your eyes would have instantly gravitated to heavyweight Ben Rothwell. In fact, the Kenosha, Wisconsin native looked so dejected that guessing that he lost, got knocked out, and got his dog taken away from him at the same time was a pretty accurate description.
Funny thing is, Rothwell won that night, scoring a unanimous decision over veteran striker Gilbert Yvel. It wasn’t a Fight of the Year or even Fight of the Night candidate, but after nearly a decade as a mixed martial artist and waiting for this moment, you figured a smile would cross his lips, if only for a second.
But it didn’t. Ask him why, and he doesn’t talk about the torn ACL he suffered in the bout. That healed with surgery and time. No, for Rothwell, his reaction to the fight goes deeper than that.
“31 wins and 28 of them are finishes,” he said. “I have three decisions and I’m not happy about any of them, especially with one of them being in the UFC. If it (the Yvel fight) was a rock ‘em sock ‘em war where it was just crazy and the crowd was going nuts the whole three rounds and my opponent was just that tough, I could have accepted that a little better. But the fact that in the third round I heard a few boos, that just ends it for me.”
A lot of fighters say that they always look for the finish, but how many feel so bad when it doesn’t happen? Not too many. Maybe no one but Rothwell.
“My entire goal at all times is that I want to hear the crowd roar,” he said. “That means that they’re excited and that they’re into the fight, and that means everything to me. I’m also a fan, and when I watch boring fights, I get pissed off too, so I can only imagine watching my own fight. It really upsets me. I’m known to be an exciting fighter, I have a lot of knockout wins, I have a lot of submission wins also; I finish fights, and I try to uphold to that. It didn’t happen that night. Obviously we know that I had some issues in that fight, but even with one leg, I still could have got a submission and I still could have ended the fight.”
If that attitude doesn’t make you a Ben Rothwell fan, nothing will. But before Rothwell could get back to work in the Octagon to follow up his first UFC win with his first UFC finish, there was the pesky problem of that torn ACL, which has kept him sidelined since the Yvel fight.
“I missed not being in there,” said the 31-7 Rothwell. “There are a lot of these guys that already picked up a couple fights and got their names bigger, and I just had to sit on the sidelines, going ‘I know I would smash these guys.’ They’re getting wins, they’re getting exposure, they’re getting fans, getting more Twitter hits, and I’m biding my time. But I used it as fuel and I was definitely in the gym more than I’ve ever been. So it’s a good thing.”
Part of that good thing was reuniting with longtime coach Duke Roufus after they spent the Yvel fight apart. For Rothwell, the renowned former kickboxer is more than a trainer, he’s a friend, so getting back on the same page was important.
“I’ve been with Duke for eight years, he spoke at my wedding, he’s my friend as well as my coach,” he said. “We got to sit down and talk back at the beginning of the year, we got everything straightened out, and I’m in a good place with him right now, we’ve got a really good thing going and I’m just happy to be his heavyweight. Along with him came Ben Askren, my wrestling coach, and I’ve also acquired an outstanding jiu-jitsu coach in Luiz Claudio. So I’ve got a great, well-rounded camp, and I feel it’s the best scenario for me.”
He’s also got some of the best young guns in the game in the gym, including rising UFC stars Anthony Pettis, Erik Koch, and Danny Downes. That kind of youthful energy can definitely keep a 29-year old vet from getting bored.
“For their age, they’re maturing very quick,” said Rothwell. “Duke has been involved in the fight game for well over 30 years, traveling all over the world, and that gives him a great deal of experience that he’s pushed to all his guys. And his biggest thing is to say that my goal is to help all of you not make the mistakes I made. Basically the sky’s the limit for our whole gym. Our team is like a family, and that makes a big difference.”
And with the exception of talking about the Yvel fight, Rothwell sounds as upbeat and positive as he ever has about his career as he gets ready for a UFC 135 bout with Mark Hunt. But don’t call this a comeback. The way he sees it, this is a debut.
“After the surgery, I went through like a resurrection type of period where I’m coming into this fight 0-0 and that’s just how I feel about it,” he said. “I’m coming to get my first real win in the UFC in this next fight, for sure. I feel like I’ve made a lot of major changes, I’ve got a lot of good coaches around me, I made a lot of good changes in my body and my conditioning, and I’m a new man. I’m very confident in putting in a win and letting everybody in the division know that you might have fought me before, but you haven’t fought this Ben Rothwell.”
Having Roufus on your side is also a big plus when taking on a striker like Hunt, who first made his name on the K-1 kickboxing circuit. So if anyone can break down a kickboxer, it’s a former kickboxer. That doesn’t mean Rothwell is going to stand there and get into a slugfest with the New Zealander.
“I hated that people found out that I have a tough chin,” said Rothwell. “They’re like ‘why?’ That means I got hit, and my whole goal is to use my defense and not get hit at all, and that stands true for every fight. The guy’s got power, and the best thing to do is avoid that power.”
“Gilbert Yvel, with little gloves on, is very dangerous on the feet, but Gilbert never won a K-1 Grand Prix (like Hunt did),” he continues. “That’s an outstanding achievement in the striking world and you gotta respect that. But the difference is, he’s a little bit shorter, I don’t think he’s as fast (as Yvel). Positively, he’s got great striking, but he also has big holes in his game, obviously with his wrestling and his ground. But little gloves change everything too. He did K-1 with 10 ounce gloves on, and in MMA, these are four ounce gloves.”
That doesn’t bother Rothwell because that always present danger Hunt provides means that there’s going to be a fight on Saturday, one that he can be satisfied with and use to make a statement to a division he says is “the strongest that it’s ever been in my whole career.”
And if he needs an extra push, there’s always the Yvel fight to watch. So…has he…watched it?
“Yes.”
How many times?
“A few.”
An uncomfortable pause.
“I didn’t watch it happily. I just sat there and had to take it.”
