Stipe Miocic vs. Ben Rothwell Rumored For Dublin’s UFC Fight Night 76

With last night’s announcement that UFC heavyweight champion Fabricio Werdum would be defending his belt in an immediate rematch against Cain Velasquez, the rest of the division’s contenders were freed up to find other opponents for the time being.

One bout being targeted as result is a scrap between rising heavyweights Stipe Miocic and Ben Rothwell, which has been proposed for October 24’s UFC Fight Night 76 from Dublin, Ireland. Nothing has been made official as of yet.

The No. 3-ranked Miocic was briefly rumored to be challenging Werdum next after his dominant stoppage win over Mark Hunt in the main event of May’s UFC Fight Night 65 from Australia. But he also lost to No. 2-ranked Junior dos Santos at UFC on FOX 13 in December 2014, which could have held him back a bit.

He’ll look to lock up a title sot by defeating the surging No. 6-ranked Rothwell, who has won three straight bouts via finish. He recently submitted Matt Mitrione with a vicious guillotine choke at June’s UFC Fight Night 66 after knocking out former Strikeforce champ Alistair Overeem at UFC Fight Night 50.

UFC Fight Night 76 features a main event between Irish lightweight Joseph Duffy and streaking Dustin Poirier, and will take place at Dublin’s 3Arena.