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By: Jamie Penick, MMATorch Editor-in-Chief
Ben Rothwell didn't have much to say in the lead up to UFC Fight Night 50 in September, and he hasn't had much to say since knocking Alistair Overeem out on that card.
However, Overeem's talked plenty. The former Strikeforce Heavyweight Champ is heading into a fight with Stefan Struve at UFC on Fox 13 next month, and he said in a recent interview that he thinks he'd beat Rothwell nine times out of ten.
In response to that, Rothwell explained this week in an interview with Ariel Helwani on The MMA Hour why he feels the talking didn't work for Overeem into their fight, and why Overeem's current comments are a bad omen for his chances against Struve.
"I always say, hey, it's probably best to be quiet when you're fighting me, because the second you start going to the media, if you're going to try to McGregor me, so to speak, it's better for me because I make it personal," Rothwell said. "And when I make it personal, I fight my best... Right up until the week of the fight, more stuff was getting hit all over the media with talking him up and how he's going to fight. He was already calling out other guys, stuff like that, and I'm just like... really? You've got me in front of you and you're going to call out other people? Alright, we're going to see how this is going to work out for you."
"He posts that [he'd beat me nine times out of ten], and I didn't even have to say a word because it seemed like all the forums and media took care of it for me," Rothwell continued. "The general consensus was that this guy had brain damage. I think he's getting hit in the head too many times to make that comment."
"If I was his coach or I was his teammate, I'd be like: ‘Dude, shut up. Stay out of media. You're going into a fight that you cannot lose against a guy who could beat you, and you're talking trash about a guy who just beat you. This makes no sense.' Him talking trash on me right now while he's going into a fight against Stefan Struve is only going to hurt him. I don't know what he's trying to do, because every time he talks all trash against Travis Browne and Bigfoot Silva, it has not turned out well for him. And he's doing it again."
Penick's Analysis: Even if Overeem believed that he'd win nine out of ten times, the simple fact of the matter is that the one time is all that matters right now. He, in fact, lost, that's the reality of the situation, and Rothwell's right that he didn't need to say anything more to point that out. He may be right that it doesn't bode well for Overeem to focus on anything other than his opponent into UFC on Fox 13. It may not play into things at all, but it probably isn't a positive for him to harp on what happened instead of moving forward.
[Alistair Overeem art by Grant Gould (c) MMATorch.com]
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Jamie Penick, editor-in-chief
(mmatorcheditor@gmail.com)
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