Following a down streak of three losses in five fights, former UFC heavyweight champ Junior dos Santos had his back against the wall in a big way going into his pivotal match-up with Ben Rothwell in the main event of today’s (Sun., April 10, 2016) UFC Fight Night 86 from the Zagreb Arena in Zagreb, Croatia.
Following a down streak of three losses in five fights, former UFC heavyweight champ Junior dos Santos had his back against the wall in a big way going into his pivotal match-up with Ben Rothwell in the main event of today’s (Sun., April 10, 2016) UFC Fight Night 86 from the Zagreb Arena in Zagreb, Croatia.
Dos Santos needed a big win to stay afloat atop the heavyweight division, and he got just that by out-maneuvering, out-striking, and overall out-classing “Big Ben” in Croatia. The previously surging Rothwell had finished four straight opponents, including a knockout over Alistair Overeem and recent submissions of Josh Barnett and Matt Mitrione, but “JDS” put an end to his run with pinpoint striking and a great gameplan to sweep all of the scorecards.
With a dominant win over a Top 5 opponent in the books, the future is suddenly back to looking bright for “Cigano.” Check out the full fight video highlights of his rebound win here:
The UFC’s heavyweight division can be a tricky thing. More often than not, wins and losses mean little more than a larger paycheck.
A fighter can lose in devastating fashion and work their way back into title contention within six months. A fight…
The UFC’s heavyweight division can be a tricky thing. More often than not, wins and losses mean little more than a larger paycheck.
A fighter can lose in devastating fashion and work their way back into title contention within six months. A fighter can knock off a top contender in their UFC debut and still find themselves years away from a title fight. The UFC Fight Night 86 main event, which featured Junior Dos Santos opposite Ben Rothwell, wasn’t like that.
The stakes, in this one, were crystal clear.
Rothwell is the contender the UFC doesn’t want. A quirky character with an everyman appearance, Big Ben has mounted a winning streak that includes a knockout of the division’s best kickboxer and a submission of one of the division’s most accomplished grapplers.
Despite that, the UFC clearly has him pegged as a lifelong midcarder, regularly giving him second billing on cards and throwing him every tough opponent they can muster.
Understandably, Rothwell had his heart set on UFC gold but was forced into a position where there was only one way to achieve that. He had to keep winning. Again and again, until there weren’t any other contenders left.
Dos Santos, however, has already been “the guy.” He climbed to the top of the mountain and won the UFC heavyweight title back in 2011, but a year later, Cain Velasquez battered and broke him and sent him tumbling back to base camp.
He hasn’t quite been the same since that beating, and while he has picked up wins over the likes of Mark Hunt and StipeMiocic, his days as an elite heavyweight have been steadily fading away for years now.
A win over Rothwell was Dos Santos’ only hope of holding onto relevance. If he couldn’t get it, he would likely fade off into the midcard for the remainder of his career.
There were huge stakes here, and both men knew it.
The fight itself proved to be a battle of positioning. Dos Santos has always fought behind his jab and did precisely that against Rothwell. He tried to keep the action in the middle of the cage, circling around Rothwell while mixing in punches to his face and body. Rothwell, meanwhile, attempted to pressure things to the cage where he could brawl with Dos Santos and threaten takedowns.
Naturally, only one of them succeeded in implementing their game plan. Rothwell is an amazingly tough man but has never been labeled “athletic.” He has size, an iron chin, heavy hands and a sneaky choke but lacks the speed and quickness that other elite heavyweights possess.
He managed to keep up with Dos Santos in the first round, cutting the cage and landing some punches, but Dos Santos had too much lateral quickness for Rothwell to handle for long. Rothwell would press forward, and Dos Santos would simply circle out and pop him with a jab.
This exact sequence repeated itself for all 25 minutes, only broken up by the occasional pawing from Rothwell, which would be met with either an overhand right from Dos Santos or yet another jab.
In the end, a fresh-faced Dos Santos would be declared the unanimous-decision winner with all five judges scoring the action 50-45. A busted up Rothwell would be sent to the locker rooms, with three years of swimming against the tide undone in half an hour.
Here are some other notes and thoughts on the fight:
Fight fans went a bit overboard with their doom-saying about JDS, but this win over Rothwell doesn’t mean his career is rejuvenated. He still relies on his athleticism to win in most situations, and that, obviously, isn’t going to get held up as the years roll on.
This is a sad turn for Rothwell. Big Ben has evolved from being a .500 fighter to a top-five-caliber brawler and had it completely undone by a few big shifts to the contender hierarchy. It’s too bad he’ll probably never get the crack at gold that he earned several months ago.
Both men actually demonstrated remarkable cardio. They actually managed to turn up the gas in the final round, and there are only a handful of heavyweights who can get that far without falling apart.
On a four-fight stoppage surge in the shallow UFC heavyweight division, Ben Rothwell looked to continue his path of destruction when he met former champion Junior dos Santos in the main event of today’s (Sun., April 10, 2016) UFC Fight Night 86 from the Zagreb Arena in Zagreb, Croatia. The fight kicked off with Rothwell pushing
On a four-fight stoppage surge in the shallow UFC heavyweight division, Ben Rothwell looked to continue his path of destruction when he met former champion Junior dos Santos in the main event of today’s (Sun., April 10, 2016) UFC Fight Night 86 from the Zagreb Arena in Zagreb, Croatia.
The fight kicked off with Rothwell pushing the pace. He threw a lazy low kick and dos Santos remained patient. He threw a big right hand that landed, then a jab to the body followed by another. Rothwell tried to make it ugly with some shots in close, but dos Santos kept his range to land a few solid body punches.
Big shots came from both fighters, and Rothwell landed a hard leg kick. “Big Ben” landed a big overhand as he stalked continuously dos Santos down. Dos Santos responded with his own overhand, but Rothwell opened up with a combo. Rothwell continued landing low kicks and dos Santos kept working the body to close out the first round.
Rothwell came out pressing forward once again to start the second. Dos Santos threw Rothwell to the ground when he slipped, and ‘Big Ben’ landed another leg kick. Dos Santos scored to Rothwell’s body, to which Rothwell responded with a body kick of his own. “JDS” snapped a sharp straight right and landed to the body again. Rothwell threw a Superman punch, which dos Santos countered with one of his own.
A sharp right came from dos Santos as he stayed on his toes, but an eye poke caused a momentarily halt to the fight. Dos Santos landed on the restart, bruising Rothwell’s right eye and staggering him a bit with a kick. “Cigano” landed another body shot. He staggered Rothwell with a big right hand and then wobbled him further with a high kick to close the second round.
At the beginning of the third, dos Santos landed another right hand as he kept his movement level high. He went to the body but Rothwell pressed the pace with a strong combination. “Cigano’s” speed was keeping him one step ahead of “Big Ben,” but Rothwell landed a hard right. Dos Santos fought back with body work and sharp jabs, keeping out of Rothwell’s power range. A spinning back kick landed to Rothwell’s body, and a strong one-two combo did, as well. Dos Santos landed another kick as the third came to an end.
Dos Santos landed a left hook to start the fourth round, and Rothwell scored one of his own followed by a side kick to the body. Dos Santos answered with his own side kick to the body and snapped two more jabs to the body afterward. He landed a hard straight right, stunning Rothwell with a left hook. Jabs scored rapidly and ” Big Ben” just couldn’t seem to chase dos Santos down.
Rothwell landed a huge right that looked to stun dos Santos, and he pushed in close to try score with more strikes. Dos Santos kept his footwork moving, however, and landed additional straight punches. A combo followed and Rothwell countered with a few strikes. The fourth round ended with a hard low kick from “Big Ben.”
The fifth round saw dos Santos appearing comfortable. Rothwell showed some urgency with some punches. Dos Santos kept working his jabs and staying out of Rothwell’s range. A high kick missed from “Big Ben” and dos Santos landed a knee before going back to the body. Straight shots landed on several occasions, and Rothwell landed a big left hook. “Cigano” countered with accurate shots and a hard looping overhand and a big knee to the face. A front kick and a combo closed out the grueling bout, and “JDS” won the bout by decision, sweeping all five rounds on the judges’ cards.
The UFC made their debut on Croatian soil with today’s (Sun., April 10, 2016) UFC Fight Night 86 from the Zagreb Arena in Zagreb, Croatia. In the main event, top heavyweight veterans Ben Rothwell and Junior dos Santos met for pivotal positioning in the UFC’s biggest division. In the co-main, promising prospect Derrick Lewis also
The UFC made their debut on Croatian soil with today’s (Sun., April 10, 2016) UFC Fight Night 86 from the Zagreb Arena in Zagreb, Croatia.
In the main event, top heavyweight veterans Ben Rothwell and Junior dos Santos met for pivotal positioning in the UFC’s biggest division. In the co-main, promising prospect Derrick Lewis also met longtime veteran Gabriel Gonzaga at heavyweight.
Join us for the card’s post-fight press conference after the main card at approximately 5:30 p.m. ET:
After two great fights on the main card so far, it was time for the UFC Fight Night 86 to go heavy. The first of four heavyweight fights in a row on the main card featured Timothy Johnson and Marcin Tybura, in the lead up to the main event between Junior dos Santos and Ben
After two great fights on the main card so far, it was time for the UFC Fight Night 86 to go heavy. The first of four heavyweight fights in a row on the main card featured Timothy Johnson and Marcin Tybura, in the lead up to the main event between Junior dos Santos and Ben Rothwell.
Johnson rocking the old time weightlifter moustache here, very vintage, these guys look like they aren’t going to go for that judge’s decision. Grant Waterman of the UK is the referee in charge of the octagon and here we go. They touch gloves, Johnson in southpaw, Tybura in orthodox. Right jabs by Johnson, straight right down the middle for Tybura. Johnson with a nice right hook and Tybura looking a little gun shy if you ask me. They measure each other and now Tybura unleashes some big rear hooks.
Lovely uppercut to the body from Tybura, and now they clinch. Johnson weighing down on his man here, some dirty boxing and shoulder strikes, elbow from Tybura, and a hard knee to the belly too, Waterman rightly separates them. Nice 1-2 combo from Tybura, a couple wiffed replies from Johnson. Nice front kick from Tybura, Johnson throws from outer space and hits air. Round ends, 10-9 Tybura. There seems to be some sound errors as the corner cut scenes play out. Round two begins.
They touch gloves and Johnson lands a few, Tybura isn’t bothered by the awkward southpaw though, remaining very composed in the exchanges. Nice jab by Marcin now, slips the counter too, but now Johnson rips a right hook that cuts Tybura. They exchange and it leads to a clinch. Now the fight cuts out and rewinds to the prelims, and we’re back again more punches from both men but nothing clean. Tybura looking a bit flat now, Johnson landing some better punches. A straight left send Tybura back, and again, but a nice front kick gets Johnson’s attention. Johnson responds with a wild storm of punches, Tybura lasts out the round. 10-9 Johnson.
Round three begins, Johnson moving well, looks to be the fresher man but Tybura lands a takedown and gets the back. Johnson could shake Tybura off from this high position though, he escapes and they stand again. Uppercut grazes the forehead of Tybura, and they clinch again. Johnson winning the fight from position here but it’s not much fun, Waterman intervenes again, just as we rewind again to the prelims. Come on UFC get this sorted out please. Tybura rocks Johnson now with a kick, moving in for the kill and now whips an elbow to the head. They clinch again. Nice knee for Tybura, Johnson has a badly swollen eye now, one minute left. That left eye is brutally swollen, Johnson can’t see from that side surely. Right hand from Tybura, Johnson wings some counters but hits air. Fight over. 10-9 Tybura.
The UFC’s heavyweight division can be a tricky thing. More often than not, wins and losses mean little more than a larger paycheck. 