Stipe Miocic Offered To Fight Rothwell, Was Given Arlovski
Surging heavyweight contender “Big” Ben Rothwell was scheduled to meet highly ranked Stipe Miocic in the co-main event of last weekend’s (October 24, 2015) UFC Fight Night 76 from Dublin, Ireland, but Miocic was ultimately forced out of the bout.
Rothwell then expressed interest in facing off with former heavyweight champion Andrei “The Pitbull” Arlovski, but nothing resulted and “Big” Ben was scrapped from the card. Somewhat shocking news was then reported indicating that Miocic would be fighting Arlovski at January 2’s UFC 195.
Rothwell, clearly not happy about the situation, has been quite vocal in voicing his displeasure, saying that he doesn’t understand it, and that he’s been robbed.
The Croatian Miocic has remained rather quiet, but has now opened up via MMALatestNews.com, saying that he offered to fight Rothwell, but it was the UFC who ultimately chose to pair him up with Arlovski:
“I’m not involved in their decision-making process,” he said. “My camp notified the UFC that I would be healthy and ready to fight in January against Ben or Andrei. They chose to match me against Andrei and I accepted. My goal is to face the highest ranked fighter available who will help me get a title shot. I would have been fine fighting Ben in January but that fight was not offered to me, Arlovski was. He is ranked higher and we took the fight.”
Miocic is just 1-1 in his last two, dropping a decision loss to former champion Junior Dos Santos last December, and rebounding with a one-sided beat down over Mark Hunt last May. Arlovski is actually 4-0 since returning to the UFC, owning wins over Brendan Schaub, Antonio Silva, Travis Browne, and Frank Mir.
With Miocic sitting at No. 3, and “The Pitbull” being ranked No. 4, this bout could be deemed a title eliminator. Who do you see winning?
