Injury forces heavyweight contender Miocic out of UFC bout with Rothwell

It looks like the UFC just didn’t have the right fighter to fill in against Ben Rothwell on a week’s notice in Ireland, following Stipe Miocic’s injury.

Rothwell, current ranked No. 7 in the heavyweight division, was looking for his fourth win over the third-ranked Miocic. MMAFighting.com today confirmed no suitable opponent for Rothwell was found and therefore he will not compete.

“No hard feelings towards Stipe at all”. These things happen, and I’d like to hope that everything happens for a reason. Big Ben made it known that he would like to be considered in case Overeem withdraws from the said fight.

“I was very much ready”.

Miocic (13-2) was last seen earning a dominant fifth round TKO win over former title contender Mark Hunt at UFC Fight Night 65 in May. Had Miocic not been injured, the fight would have been the first time in Rothwell’s UFC career where he didn’t take at least a relatively long (seven months or more) layoff between fights. One hundred percent ready to go for next week.

Rothwell is hopeful that another significant opportunity will come along soon enough, and top of his list would be to step in against Junior dos Santos if Alistair Overeem is unable to fight at UFC on Fox 17.

Rothwell added that he will still attend the card, saying that “I will shed a tear being in that crowd”. In addition, while Spong is a decorated kickboxer, he has only had two professional MMA fights, and to throw him into the cage with a top-10 heavyweight would be a tough UFC debut for the Blackzilians product.