Tag: Ben Rothwell

UFC Announces Two HUGE Heavyweight Fights For Upcoming Events

Two epic fights were announced during last night’s UFC Fight Night 88 event in Las Vegas, Nevada, and they feature some seriously great match ups. First off we’ll take a look at the former heavyweight champion Fabricio Werdum’s next fight. ‘Vai Cavalo’ lost the title against Stipe Miocic in his first attempted defense at UFC

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Two epic fights were announced during last night’s UFC Fight Night 88 event in Las Vegas, Nevada, and they feature some seriously great match ups. First off we’ll take a look at the former heavyweight champion Fabricio Werdum’s next fight. ‘Vai Cavalo’ lost the title against Stipe Miocic in his first attempted defense at UFC 198. Thje Croatian silenced the Brazilian crowds with a monstrous one punch knockout, sending the home town favorite face first and out cold on the canvas.

During the broadcast of UFC Fight Night 88, it was confirmed Werdum would be returning against Ben Rothwell, and the target event is UFC 203 in Cleveland, Ohio. Sound familiar? Yep, that’s where Stipe Miocic will hope to defend his newly acquired belt against Alistair Overeem.

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After victories over Fedor Emelianenko and Cain Velasquez, Werdum was being talked about as the greatest heavyweight of all time, and he’ll face a stern challenge in ‘Big Ben.’ Rothwell has taken out Alistair Overeem, Matt Mitrione and Josh Barnett, but was snubbed by a rampant Junior dos Santos at UFC Fight Night 86. The winner of this bout will be making clear headway in the 265-pound division.

On to another former heavyweight champion, Andrei Arlovski has been pitted against ‘Warmaster’ Josh Barnett.

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The number six ranked ‘Pitbull’ suffered a streak ending loss to Stipe Miocic, followed by a crushing UFC Rotterdam loss to Alistair Overeem. After defeating Roy Nelson, the highly regarded catch wrestler Barnett was shockingly submitted by Ben Rothwell, and now will look to get back to winning ways at the UFC Hamburg event on September 3rd.

Also bookedin for the event is a light-heavyweight showdown between Ryan Bader and Ilir Latifi. As per the UFC’s official Facebook page:

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It’s widely believed that former title challenger Alexander Gustafsson will return to action in Hamburg too, although at the moment nothing is official.

Stay tuned to LowKickMMA for more UFC ad MMA news as it comes in.

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Junior Dos Santos Blasts Ben Rothwell For His “Strategically Stupid” Comment

When Ben Rothwell lost to Junior Dos Santos at UFC Fight Night 86, he admitted after the fight that taking a fight against a dangerous opponent like Junior Dos Santos when he was so close to a UFC Heavyweight title shot was a “strategically stupid” mov…

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When Ben Rothwell lost to Junior Dos Santos at UFC Fight Night 86, he admitted after the fight that taking a fight against a dangerous opponent like Junior Dos Santos when he was so close to a UFC Heavyweight title shot was a “strategically stupid” move on his part. Dos Santos, however, feels that it was Rothwell’s comments that were actually stupid.

While speaking with Ariel Helwani on “The MMA Hour” at MMAFighting.com, former UFC Heavyweight Champion Junior Dos Santos addressed Rothwell’s post-fight comments.

“If you’re winning, you have to fight with anyone,” the former UFC heavyweight champion said Monday on The MMA Hour. “If you want to be the champion, you can’t pick opponents. So if he would like to be the champion, at some point he should fight against me or all the other guys. It’s part of the thing to be champion.”

By defeating Rothwell, Dos Santos picked up some of the momentum that Rothwell had built for himself, moving himself closer to another potential UFC Heavyweight title shot, which he admits is still his ultimate goal.

“The belt is always my goal, my biggest goal,” dos Santos said. “I don’t care about anything that’s happening with all the guys. Sometimes I try to be a little more aggressive with my words, but I don’t know how to do that. My main objective in UFC is to become the champion again. I know that I can do that, and I will do that, so if Dana White wants to give me a gift, give me the title shot.”

Junior Dos Santos is expected to be on the sidelines while recovering from recent surgery. It is believed, however, that he will be able to make his Octagon return by the end of the year.

UFC Rankings Update: Junior Dos Santos Moves Up After ‘Big Ben’ Win

As expected there was a decent amount of shakeup in the official UFC rankings following last Sunday’s (April 10, 2016 UFC Fight Night 86 from the Zagreb Arena in Zagreb, Croatia, and the biggest shift was former heavyweight champion Junior dos Santos’ move back up the rankings for his dominantly one-sided win over previously rising

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As expected there was a decent amount of shakeup in the official UFC rankings following last Sunday’s (April 10, 2016 UFC Fight Night 86 from the Zagreb Arena in Zagreb, Croatia, and the biggest shift was former heavyweight champion Junior dos Santos’ move back up the rankings for his dominantly one-sided win over previously rising Ben Rothwell.

For his much-needed statement win, dos Santos moved up from No. 5 to No. 4 in the 265-pound rankings. Andrei Arlovski moved up to No. 5 as a result, and ‘Big’ Ben dropped to No. 6 for his first loss in his last five fights.

Also at heavyweight, monstrous power slugger Derrick Lewis cracked the Top 15 at No. 13 for his first round knockout win over veteran Gabriel Gonzaga. Former champion Frank Mir was also flagged for a potential USADA violation, and it may have played a part in his move down one spot to No. 11, allowing Roy Nelson to claim the No. 10 spot.

In the lighter weight classes, there was somehow a decent number of surprising shifts even though no specific fights caused them to happen in any way. For example, Renan Barao rose two spots in the bantamweight ranks to No. 2 despite the fact that he will move up to featherweight to battle Jeremy Stephens on May 29, moving title contender Urijah Faber and Raphael Assuncao down a spot.

In a similar move, Donald Cerrone rose 3 spots in in the lightweight ranks to No. 6 despite the fact that he will face Patrick Cote at welterweight in the co-main event of the UFC’s Ottawa debut on June 18.

Women’s bantamweight saw a sizeable shakeup for a different reason, as former No. 10-ranked Sarah Kaufman’s removal from the rankings due to her not having a contract caused Valentina Shevchenko, Raquel Pennington, Germaine de Randamie, Lauren Murphy, and Marion Reneau to move up a spot each, while Ashlee Evans-Smith debuted at No. 15 as a result.

Check out the full updated official rankings via the UFC’s website here:

POUND-FOR-POUND
1 Jon Jones
2 Demetrious Johnson
3 Luke Rockhold
4 Fabricio Werdum
5 Dominick Cruz
6 Rafael Dos Anjos
7 Robbie Lawler
8 Conor McGregor
9 Daniel Cormier
10 Jose Aldo
11 Chris Weidman
12 Frankie Edgar
13 TJ Dillashaw
14 Joanna Jedrzejczyk
15 Miesha Tate

FLYWEIGHT
Champion: Demetrious Johnson
1 Joseph Benavidez
2 Henry Cejudo
3 John Dodson
4 Jussier Formiga
5 Ian McCall
6 Kyoji Horiguchi
7 John Moraga
8 Zach Makovsky
9 Wilson Reis
10 Dustin Ortiz
11 Ali Bagautinov
12 Justin Scoggins
13 Louis Smolka
14 Ray Borg
15 Sergio Pettis

BANTAMWEIGHT
Champion: Dominick Cruz
1 TJ Dillashaw
2 Renan Barao +2
3 Urijah Faber -1
4 Raphael Assuncao -1
5 Aljamain Sterling -1
6 Michael McDonald
7 Thomas Almeida
8 Bryan Caraway
9 Takeya Mizugaki
10 Johnny Eduardo
11 Frankie Saenz +2
12 John Lineker
13 Jimmie Rivera -2
14 Eddie Wineland
15 Cody Garbrandt

FEATHERWEIGHT
Champion: Conor McGregor
1 Jose Aldo
2 Frankie Edgar
3 Chad Mendes
4 Max Holloway
5 Ricardo Lamas
6 Cub Swanson
7 Charles Oliveira
8 Dennis Bermudez
9 Jeremy Stephens
10 Hacran Dias
11 Darren Elkins
12 Brian Ortega
13 Tatsuya Kawajiri
14 Clay Guida +1
15 Mirsad Bektic *NR

LIGHTWEIGHT
Champion: Rafael Dos Anjos
1 Eddie Alvarez
2 Khabib Nurmagomedov
3 Anthony Pettis
4 Tony Ferguson
5 Nate Diaz
6 Donald Cerrone +3
7 Michael Johnson -1
7 Beneil Dariush
9 Edson Barboza -1
10 Dustin Poirier
11 Al Iaquinta
12 Bobby Green
13 Evan Dunham
14 Michael Chiesa
15 Rashid Magomedov

WELTERWEIGHT
Champion: Robbie Lawler
1 Rory MacDonald
2 Stephen Thompson
3 Tyron Woodley
4 Carlos Condit
5 Johny Hendricks
6 Demian Maia
7 Neil Magny
8 Matt Brown
9 Dong Hyun Kim
10 Tarec Saffiedine
11 Rick Story
12 Kelvin Gastelum
13 Albert Tumenov
14 Hector Lombard
15 Thiago Alves

MIDDLEWEIGHT
Champion: Luke Rockhold
1 Chris Weidman
2 Jacare Souza
3 Vitor Belfort
4 Michael Bisping
5 Lyoto Machida
6 Anderson Silva
7 Robert Whittaker
8 Gegard Mousasi
9 Tim Kennedy
10 Uriah Hall
11 Derek Brunson
12 Thales Leites
13 Rafael Natal
14 Dan Henderson
15 CB Dollaway

LIGHT HEAVYWEIGHT
Champion: Daniel Cormier
1 Jon Jones
2 Anthony Johnson
3 Alexander Gustafsson
4 Glover Teixeira
5 Ryan Bader
6 Ovince Saint Preux
7 Rashad Evans
8 Mauricio Rua
9 Jimi Manuwa
10 Antonio Rogerio Nogueira
11 Patrick Cummins
12 Corey Anderson
13 Ilir Latifi
14 Nikita Krylov
15 Gian Villante

HEAVYWEIGHT
Champion: Fabricio Werdum
1 Cain Velasquez
2 Stipe Miocic
3 Alistair Overeem
4 Junior Dos Santos +1
5 Andrei Arlovski +1
6 Ben Rothwell -2
7 Travis Browne
8 Mark Hunt
9 Josh Barnett
10 Roy Nelson +1
11 Frank Mir -1
12 Antonio Silva
13 Derrick Lewis *NR
14 Ruslan Magomedov -1
15 Alexey Oliynyk -1

WOMEN’S STRAWWEIGHT
Champion: Joanna Jedrzejczyk
1 Claudia Gadelha
2 Carla Esparza
3 Rose Namajunas
4 Tecia Torres
5 Jessica Penne
6 Valerie Letourneau
7 Paige VanZant
8 Maryna Moroz +1
9 Michelle Waterson -1
10 Karolina Kowalkiewicz
11 Joanne Calderwood
12 Randa Markos
13 Jessica Aguilar
14 Juliana Lima
15 Justine Kish

WOMEN’S BANTAMWEIGHT
Champion: Miesha Tate
1 Holly Holm
2 Ronda Rousey
3 Cat Zingano
4 Amanda Nunes
5 Julianna Pena
6 Sara McMann
7 Jessica Eye
8 Bethe Correia
9 Liz Carmouche
10 Valentina Shevchenko +1
11 Raquel Pennington +1
12 Germaine de Randamie +1
13 Lauren Murphy +1
14 Marion Reneau +1
15 Ashlee Evans-Smith *NR

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Mark Hunt Is Ready For His Rematch With Junior Dos Santos

Junior dos Santos may have been pegged as being on the downside of his elite MMA career, but he proved that theory extremely wrong when he dominated top-ranked Ben Rothwell in the main event of yesterday’s (Sun., April 10, 2016) UFC Fight Night 86 from the Zagreb Arena in Zagreb, Croatia. The victory put the previously

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Junior dos Santos may have been pegged as being on the downside of his elite MMA career, but he proved that theory extremely wrong when he dominated top-ranked Ben Rothwell in the main event of yesterday’s (Sun., April 10, 2016) UFC Fight Night 86 from the Zagreb Arena in Zagreb, Croatia.

The victory put the previously No. 5-ranked “Cigano” in line for another big fight in the relatively barren heavyweight ranks, and indeed there is a small but strong list of potential opponents awaiting him after their current match-ups are done.

However, there’s another top heavyweight who doesn’t have a fight booked and wants a bout with dos Santos, and that’s his UFC 160 opponent, fan favorite Mark Hunt. “The Super Samoan,” who lost to a dos Santos spinning wheel kick at the epic event back in 2013, called out for a rematch with “Cigano” on Twitter immediately after his win over Rothwell:

Although Hunt lost the “Fight of the Night” bout by highlight reel knockout, “The Super Samoan” undoubtedly gave dos Santos all he could handle, rocking him with his trademark massive shots early and often in the fight.

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After the loss to dos Santos snapped a four-fight win streak that had him on the verge of title contention, Hunt went on to participate in his classic brawl with Antonio “Bigfoot” Silva that ended in a draw at UFC Fight Night 33 that December. He knocked out Roy Nelson in September 2014 before losing two straight to current UFC 198 title fight participants Fabricio Werdum and Stipe Miocic.

But Hunt has since rebounded well with knockout wins over Silva in the rematch and Frank Mir at March’s UFC Fight Night 85 from his homeland of Brisbane, Australia. The results suggest that Hunt could deserve a rematch with “Cigano,” and there’s little to no doubt the fight would provide fireworks once again.

There are other top-ranked heavyweights the promotion could be saving dos Santos for, however.

Who do you think “JDS” should throw down with next? Cast your vote here!

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Who Should A Resurgent Junior Dos Santos Fight Next?

With many calling it a day on his decorated MMA career after a his first-ever TKO loss to Alistair Overeem in December, former UFC heavyweight champion Junior dos Santos silenced his critics in a big way when he dominated the streaking “Big” Ben Rothwell in the main event of yesterday’s (Sun., April 10, 2016) UFC Fight

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With many calling it a day on his decorated MMA career after a his first-ever TKO loss to Alistair Overeem in December, former UFC heavyweight champion Junior dos Santos silenced his critics in a big way when he dominated the streaking “Big” Ben Rothwell in the main event of yesterday’s (Sun., April 10, 2016) UFC Fight Night 86 from the Zagreb Arena in Zagreb, Croatia.

Dos Santos righted the ship in a big way, out-striking Rothwell is every facet of the bout, which was contested entirely on the feet. “Cigano’s” speed, footwork, elusiveness, body work, and accuracy were all on full display, and perhaps most encouraging for his fans was the clear fact that he returned to his confident, boxing-centered style of old after making a recent camp change to Florida’s American Top Team (ATT).

So “JDS” is right back in the title mix in the volatile and shallow heavyweight title picture, and with most of the top fighters booked in big fights right now, dos Santos should have a huge fight coming up once the next wave of bouts is complete. He’s already fought (and beat) both participants of the upcoming main event between champion Fabricio Werdum and Stipe Miocic, so a rematch with either of those top competitors would already have a built-in backstory.

He’s also beat and lost to former champ Cain Velasquez, who will take on Travis Browne at UFC 200, and his latest loss was to Overeem, who meets Andrei Arlovski in the main event of May 8’s UFC Rotterdam. So while the schedule might not feature many fresh faces for “Cigano,” the intriguing match-ups are there for him nonetheless.

Whom do you think he should face in his next bout?

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Watch The Post-Fight Press Conference For Fight Night Zagreb

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UFC hosted its first ever event in Croatia on Sunday with a heavyweight headlined card. Junior Dos Santos defeated Ben Rothwell via unanimous decision. JDS’s win ensured that he would not suffer his first losing streak of his MMA career.

Rothwell, on the other hand came into Sunday’s event on a four-fight win streak including wins over Alistair Overeem and Josh Barnett. With the co-main event, Derrick Lewis knocked out Gabriel Gonzaga in the 1st round. Lewis earned himself a “performance of the night” bonus for his impressive win.

The UFC has officially launched its “Unstoppable” campaign until UFC 200 and next week will feature UFC on Fox: Teixeira vs. Evans. Watch the press conference for UFC Croatia below:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ljiKvvUFJ2Q

rothwell_dossantos

UFC hosted its first ever event in Croatia on Sunday with a heavyweight headlined card. Junior Dos Santos defeated Ben Rothwell via unanimous decision. JDS’s win ensured that he would not suffer his first losing streak of his MMA career.

Rothwell, on the other hand came into Sunday’s event on a four-fight win streak including wins over Alistair Overeem and Josh Barnett. With the co-main event, Derrick Lewis knocked out Gabriel Gonzaga in the 1st round. Lewis earned himself a “performance of the night” bonus for his impressive win.

The UFC has officially launched its “Unstoppable” campaign until UFC 200 and next week will feature UFC on Fox: Teixeira vs. Evans. Watch the press conference for UFC Croatia below: