Ben Rothwell's size, power and personality make superstarstardom almost inevitable. A win over Andrei Arlovski at Affliction: Banned could be the catalyst.
Ben Rothwell: Future Superstar
By Malakai the Big Samoan
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.
THESAVAGESCIENCE.COM
More from the Top Team of
Writers in the Fight Game ...