The betting lines had “Big” Ben Rothwell at +220 (a really big underdog) against Brendan Shaub at UFC 145. Ben’s last performance was a tough decision loss against Mark Hunt, which put Ben’s conditioning in question. The line makers justified that the young, athletic Shaub should win convincingly and possibly send the once dominating IFL champion to greener pastures beyond the UFC. No one told Ben that.
Once Rothwell took off his shirt at the UFC 145 weigh-ins, you could hear jaws dropping. Ben was in shape; very good shape.
During the fight, Rothwell showed the resiliency he always had by recovering from Shaub’s tricky reverse spinning elbow to the face. Then showed his renewed killer instinct with a powerful left hook to floor Shaub and a ground and pound finish.
The win was given knock out of the night honours and a nice $65,000.00 bonus. More importantly, the win will keep Rothwell in the UFC.
With the exciting finish, Rothwell has become another possible candidate to fight against Cain Velasquez for the number one contender spot at UFC 146. This would give Rothwell a chance at redemption as he lost to Velasquez at UFC 104 in October 2009 which was Rothwell’s debut in the UFC.
Highlight from last night’s Rothwell vs. Shaub fight by Fuel TV:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R1A7LS07WUQ&feature=player_embedded
Related Links:
5 candidates to fight Cain Velasquez at UFC 146
______________________________________________________________________________
Follow @jplasaleta on Twitter and keep up with the latest news by following @MMASucka on Twitter and on Facebook
