The average post-fight interview in the UFC is a dreadful bore. The announcer, in this case Jon Anik, asks the fighter to talk him through the fight. Then he’ll ask who the fighter wants to step into the cage with next.
Typically that question, asked after literally every fight, will be met with a blank stare.
If you’re a fan of the sport, you know exactly what I’m talking about. Collectively we’ve wasted years of our lives listening to these meaningless question-and-answer sessions.
At UFC Fight Night 68, Ben Rothwell made it all worthwhile.
For a minute-and-a-half, Rothwell and Matt Mitrione were slugging it out as expected, two enormous men looking to turn each other’s lights out. Then, inexplicably, Mitrione shot in for the very first takedown of his UFC career. Rothwell countered with a whizzer, and the two men battled for position and supremacy.
“The person who wins that position is the one who hustles more,” Fox Sports 1 commentator Dominick Cruz said after the fight. “The reason Rothwell was able to get that front headlock was because he hustled to it faster than Mitrione. Which doesn’t make sense—except for the fact that Rothwell for sure trains grappling more often than Mitrione.”
Rothwell, using his superior experience and impressive bulk, locked in a front headlock, sticking his fist right in Mitrione‘s throat and forcing the favorite to tap out. The whole thing took less than two minutes and was undeniably impressive. But it was the interview that followed that truly stole the show.
“I am something completely different. The only fight that matters to me now is the number one contender’s spot. I will have the UFC title,” Rothwell said in the cage after the fight, pausing to make a strange gesture with his hands. “I know right now there is not a man on this planet who can stop me inside this Octagon. And only politics can slow me. I don’t have much left to say other than you have seen nothing yet.”
Then it happened—a fun interview turned classic when Rothwell unleashed the greatest evil laugh in UFC history. Like that, in a single goofy moment, a potential contender was born.
Rothwell wasn’t the only heavyweight making his mark on what ended up being the greatest UFC Fight Night in the promotion’s history on Fox Sports 1. On the undercard, local favorite Shawn Jordan clocked “The Black Beast” Derrick Lewis with a hook kick that could have easily been mistaken for pro wrestler Shawn Michaels‘ famous “Sweet Chin Music.”
Jordan, who still owns several records in the weight room from his days as a fullback with the LSU Tigers football team, moves with a deceptive quickness for a man his size. The win is his third in a row, all coming by way of knockout. It’s a victory that, at the very least, should vault him back up to the main card and potentially into a bout with a top-10 opponent.
Heavyweight fights in the UFC are binary. They are either amazingly entertaining or complete disasters. Tonight we landed squarely in column A. The big boys delivered—and when they happens, MMA just doesn’t get much better.
Jonathan Snowden covers combat sports for Bleacher Report.
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