Fighter removed: Ben Rothwell
— UFC Roster Watch (@UFCRosterWatch)
March 31, 2022
After 17 appearances under the Ultimate Fighting Championship banner,
heavyweight vet Ben
Rothwell’s time with the promotion has come to an unexpected
end.
At the
UFC Fight Night event on May 21 headlined by Holly Holm
vs. Ketlen
Vieira, Alexander
Gustafsson and Rothwell were going to square off on the main
card. On Thursday, plans changed, as the automated Twitter account
UFC
Roster Watch first noted that Rothwell had been released from
the organization. Following this post, the UFC confirmed to
MMA Fighting of Rothwell’s release for currently unknown
reasons, despite his May booking.
Rothwell made his UFC debut back in 2009 when he took on future
champ Cain
Velasquez at UFC 104. Falling victim to Velasquez’ ruthless
ground-and-pound, and then losing two of his next four after that
defeat, the man once known as “Big Ben” finally notched a signature
win when he beat Brandon Vera
in 2013. Following his knockout of “The Truth,” Rothwell failed a
post-fight drug test for elevated testosterone, but the win still
remained on his record. Coming back a year later, Rothwell
destroyed Alistair
Overeem, Matt
Mitrione and Josh Barnett
in the span of less than 17 months.
The win over Barnett may have been his signature victory as a UFC
fighter, as he became the first and only man in MMA competition to
submit “The Warmaster.” A trio of decision losses to Junior dos
Santos, Blagoy
Ivanov and Andrei
Arlovski sent Rothwell tumbling down the rankings, with another
failed drug test keeping him on the shelf for over two years in
that stretch. While the International Fight League vet had won three of
his last five, the undisclosed reason for his sudden release proved
more significant than his recent results.
Gustafsson faced former champ Fabricio
Werdum in his first trip up to heavyweight, where he fell
victim to a Werdum armbar in the midpoint of the first round. “The
Mauler” considered returning to 205 pounds, even accepting a match
with Paul Craig
in 2021, only to withdraw due to injury shortly before the card
took place. This left the Allstars Training Center product with a
choice to make, and he decided to remain at heavyweight instead of
making the weight cut as he advanced in age. It is unclear if
Gustafsson will receive a new opponent for this event or if he will
be booked at a later date.
The UFC Fight Night card on May 21 will likely go down inside the
UFC Apex in Las Vegas. Capping off the night’s festivities will be
a bantamweight showdown between former champ Holly Holm
and Ketlen
Vieira. Additional noteworthy matchups include a welterweight
scrap pitting Santiago
Ponzinibbio against Michel
Pereira, a light heavyweight tilt between Jailton
Almeida and Maxim
Grishin and a featherweight fight when Chase
Hooper takes on Felipe
Dias Colares.