Ben Rothwell was scheduled to fight fellow UFC heavyweight veteran Todd Duffee as part of the BKFC 56 fight card last weekend in Salt Lake City. Unfortunately, “Big Ben” came down with the flu and was forced to withdraw from the bareknuckle lineup, leaving Duffee without an opponent and ultimately, without a payday.
“I think it’s sad that Ben’s stuck in 2020 and thought this was a stay-at-home job,” Duffee said at the BKFC 56 press conference. “It’s terrible. I’ve fought with COVID my last fight, so I really think Ben’s real fight is happening with the scale. I think Thanksgiving was his biggest opponent. You make a commitment, you try to get out there and make it happen. I don’t think Ben by any means is a weak man. Maybe he’s going through something I don’t understand. But I think his biggest fight was Thanksgiving, and that’s where he lost.“
Rothwell, 42, is setting the record straight, reminding haters that he’s only withdrawn twice over the last 24 years, across a span of 50+ professional fights. In addition, he’s casting doubt on Duffee’s claims of fighting with COVID, which would undoubtedly raise a few red flags with the state athletic commission.
“I know Todd made a comment about fighting with COVID,” Rothwell told MMA Junkie. “I don’t know why he said that. Why would you say you knowingly fought with COVID? No you didn’t. And if you did, that sucks for your opponent. Not only do I want to fight at my best, obviously. I’ve fought with injuries. I’ve probably fought with colds before. But there’s just some things where it’s not going to work, then risking affecting everybody on the plane, everybody at the fight, all the BKFC staff. It just feels pretty selfish if you just knowingly subject everyone to that anyway, pretty irresponsible. I don’t do any of those things. And I wasn’t moving. Wednesday and Thursday, it was a mess.”
The culprit? His son’s daycare facility, a veritable Petri dish of germs and bacteria.
“Todd Duffee made comments like, ‘Oh I lost to Thanksgiving with my weight.’ It’s hilarious. It’s like, dude, I have more than 50 fights, and I weighed in at 265 for those fights,” Rothwell continued. “I walk around big all the time. I’ve always cut weight. Everybody knows I’ve been doing this for a long time, always cut weight, and I made 265. This fight was at 275. That ain’t a f*cking problem, man. I’ll make the weight. But when you have the flu and you’re laid out sick, that doesn’t f*cking matter. I think he’s mostly just upset. I’ve been there too. I’ve been on both ends of this. I’ve had guys pull out not just a week out – I got on the scale, I weighed in and UFC officials came to me and go, ‘Yeah, your guy is out.’ So it’s like, I’ve been there.”
No word yet on whether or not BKFC will attempt to rebook the Rothwell vs. Duffee fight for the promotion’s return in February, or simply send both fighters on their separate ways against different opponents for 2024. Assuming they stick around and continue their winning ways for BKFC, they may end up crossing paths sooner, rather than later.