Ben Rothwell: Future Superstar

Among the big names like Barnett, Fedor, Lindland, Sylvia and Arlovski on the card for Affliction: Banned, one doesn’t really ring a bell for most fight fans: Ben Rothwell. Rothwell will meet former UFC champion Andrei Arlovski in what should be an explosive standup war. Win or lose, he’s got a good chance of leaving California as one of the next superstars of MMA.

Rothwell’s low profile is primarily due to the many failures of his most recent promotional home, the IFL. The team based concept never really caught on with fans, the promotion’s management made countless bad decisions in every phase of the game, and as the IFL’s financial fortunes dwindled Rothwell had no promotional leverage behind him. 

Despite being in a promotion that appeared to be going nowhere, Rothwell never complained and instead focused on fighting. In the process, he ran roughshod over the IFL heavyweight division compiling a 9-0 record in the promotion. When his contract with the IFL ran out in September he looked for better opportunities elsewhere and found one with Adrenaline MMA and the same management team that represents Tim Sylvia. This relationship in turn opened the doors for the Affliction: Banned matchup against Arlovski. 

Growing up, it didn’t seem like Rothwell was destined to be a top flight athlete. At age 6 he contracted spinal meningitis, a disease that is potentially fatal and frequently causes serious neurological damage. As a result of the disease Rothwell was temporary blinded and even in a coma for a short time. After his recovery he had a difficult time regaining his size and strength. As he entered his teenage years, he began to encounter the opposite problem and had trouble preventing excessive weight gain. Despite these challenges, he participated in football and other sports in high school which is where he became interested in fighting.

Rothwell originally trained under kickboxer Duke Roufus but eventually landed with Pat Miletich. Training with the Miletich Fighting Systems team has greatly improved him as a fighter, and he’s lost only once during this time. He’s implemented essentially the same fight style as his teammate Tim Sylvia, using his size and power to win fights by KO while becoming proficient with takedown defense to help insure that his bouts stay off the ground. While Rothwell isn’t quite as tall as Sylvia, he’s still a monster at 6’5" 265 pounds and is naturally ‘thicker’ and more powerful than “The Mainiac'. 

Arlovski is clearly respectful of Rothwell’s power, which provides ample explanation for his relationship with Freddy Roach and increased emphasis on technical boxing skills. He knows that he can’t win a toe-to-toe slugfest with Rothwell, and will likely try to beat him with a superior technical striking game. For his part, Rothwell is very well acquainted with Arlovski’s technique as he was Sylvia’s primary training partner for the third fight between the two UFC champions. In fact, he was frequently given the role of “playing" Arlovski in sparring sessions.

The sparring work with Sylvia and training with the many talented fighters under the Militich banner will help Rothwell in another way, as he’s never faced a fighter anywhere near the quality of Arlovski. He defeated Ricco Rodriguez in his most recent bout, and that’s arguably his most high profile opponent. Rothwell also hasn’t fought in 10 months though that’s less of a concern against Arlovski, who’s not been particularly ‘busy’ himself. Finally, its important that Rothwell not get caught up in the atmosphere of the big Affliction event. It’s obviously the biggest fight of his career, and it’ll be before the biggest crowd both live and on PPV. The stakes for Rothwell are enormous, as a win here over a big name like Arlovski will make him a superstar and vault him up the ladder of heavyweight contendership. Rothwell is saying all of the right things in his prefight interviews, emphasizing that he’s focused exclusively on his opponent and the fight but that, of course, is easier said than done.

Rothwell insists that he’s actually feeling less pressure for this fight than in his IFL events. While those fights were invariably ones that he was “supposed to win", he’s of the opinion that his relatively unknown status compared to Arlovski puts the pressure squarely on the former UFC champion. In actuality, anything other than a devastating one sided loss will likely serve the same function to Rothwell. He’s got the personality, the size, the aggression and the KO power that captures the imagination of the mainstream public. He’s also got a good chance of running his winning streak to 14 fights with a victory at Affliction: Banned.