Ben Rothwell Tells ‘Brain Damaged’ Alistair Overeem To Stay Out Of The Media
It looked like Alistair Overeem was well on his way to outclassing Ben Rothwell in the co-main event of September 5’s UFC Fight Night 50, but all it took was one thunderous punch for “Big Ben” to turn the tables and send the former Strikeforce champion to yet another disappointing defeat in the Octagon.
Overeem clearly had the more diverse and crisp striking skillset, but that didn’t matter in the end; an all-too-common recent trend in “The Reem’s” disappointing UFC stint. The formerly hulking heavyweight spoke up after the fight to state that he would beat Rothwell 9 out of 10 times, a statement that Rothwell took offense to during an appearance on this week’s The MMA Hour:
“He posts that, 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. 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.”
Rothwell is unwilling to take it easy on Overeem, and probably for good reason. The week leading up to his fight with Rothwell, “The Reem” was repeatedly heard calling out other fighters and looking forward to so-called “bigger” fights, which may suggest that Overeem was foolishly looking past him.
But those things aside, Rothwell said he just doesn’t understand Overeem’s puzzling media strategy. “Big Ben” clarified how Overeem has trash talked previous opponents heading into new fights, and to horrendous results, something that he believes “The Reem” should stop doing heading into his UFC on FOX 13 co-main event against Stefan Struve:
“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.”
Rothwell may have a good point, as Overeem’s results have been sporadic at best in the Octagon. He came to the promotion as one of the most hyped fighters in several years, but his only win since a 2011 defeat of Brock Lesnar was a lackluster decision win over a quickly fading Frank Mir at February’s UFC 169.
Overeem may be unfocused on the challenges that stand before him; maybe he thinks that he is too good for the opponents he’s been given. However, until he beats a few of them, he’d probably be well served to shift his focus from badmouthing past opponents to focusing on training, because his UFC employment could be on the line against Struve.
