Weighing the Options of Ben Rothwell

With stoppage wins over Brandon Vera, Alistair Overeem, and Matt Mitrione in his wake, Ben Rothwell, a previously hot-and-cold veteran, burst into 2016 looking like he could be contending for the title before the year was out. When Rothwell scored a second-round submission over the seemingly un-submittable Josh Barnett in January, he looked like he could actually be the division's next champion.

As we now know, however, Rothwell's unlikely rise to heavyweight prominence hit a spike strip when the UFC debuted in Zagreb, Croatia last Sunday. That spike strip took the form of hard-hitting former champion Junior Dos Santos, a man many thought was on the way out. With the tremendous striking for which he's known, Dos Santos battered Rothwell for five, frenzied rounds, killing the opinion that Rothwell might end up being the next UFC heavyweight champion.

Of course, while Rothwell is down—having experienced his first loss in more than three years—he is certainly not out. He remains one of the division's most dangerous, durable, and unpredictable fighters, and with a little luck, could find himself back in title contention before the year is out. It'll all come down to how he performs in his next fight. This, of course, begs the question: what's next for Big Ben?

Well, the 46-fight veteran has plenty of interesting choices.

The most logical step, considering the quality of Rothwell's recent opponents, and the thumping he took from the former champ Dos Santos, might be a momentary step down in competition. This is not to suggest he should be relegated to gatekeeper status, but merely that he be given a comparatively soft comeback with which to regain his composure.

To this end, he might be paired with one of the division's up-and-comers. Though Derrick Lewis, who also appeared in Croatia with a big win over Gabriel Gonzaga, seems hell-bent on a scrap with Roy Nelson, he'd provide an interesting test for a returning Rothwell. Ruslan Magomedov, the rising heavyweight that Lewis replaced against Gonzaga, would make a similarly interesting comeback fight for Rothwell. Given that most of the heavyweight top-10 is currently booked, matchups of this kind could also be Rothwell's only choice if he's hoping for a quick turnaround.

Rothwell will probably need some time to recover, and remains a well-tested member of the heavyweight top-10. Though he seemed to have little to offer Dos Santos, this is a man who spent the last few years stopping former champions like Overeem and Barnett. So perhaps no step down in competition is necessary, and he should instead be thrown right back into the heavyweight fray when his bruises are healed.

In this event, Rothwell has no shortage of options. Though the length of his career means that he's already fought many of the game's top players, there are still some cool choices for him around the top of the heavyweight mountain.

He might, for example, be paired with Antonio "Bigfoot" Silva, should Silva defeat Struve when the UFC touches down in Rotterdam this May. He could also be paired with Frank Mir, should Mir be deemed innocent by USADA. Granted, neither Bigfoot nor Mir is the fighter they were 4 years ago, but both are absolutely still capable of surprising against Rothwell. Furthermore, a win over either veteran would provide Rothwell with a nice push back into the deepest part of the heavyweight division.

Another exciting, but far more dangerous next choice for Rothwell would be a fight with the loser of Fabricio Werdum and Stipe Miocic's May 14 title fight. Either way, Rothwell gets a massive chance to springboard right back into contention, and either way, we get an exciting fight. If it's Rothwell vs. Werdum, we get a fight between two sneaky, battle-tested veterans, both of whom have recently surprised with returns to relevance when most believed their best days were behind them. If Miocic fails to wrest the belt from Werdum, on the other hand, then we'd get Rothwell vs. Miocic, a fight that was expected to headline the UFC's most recent trip to Dublin but was eventually scrapped due to injury. Either way, Rothwell gets a massive opportunity to separate himself from the Dos Santos loss, and the fans win.

And then, there is arguably the most intriguing of Rothwell's current options: a scrap with Roy Nelson. As I mentioned earlier, Nelson seems poised for a bout with the rising Derrick Lewis. Yet it might be smarter on UFC Matchmaker Joe Silva's part to book Nelson with Rothwell. Not only do the two brick-fisted, brick-chinned, surprisingly talented grapplers match up beautifully on paper, but they've also got a score to settle, having fought to a narrow split decision under the IFL banner nearly a decade ago. And today, the rematch still makes sense. After a shaky stretch of his own, Nelson recently rebounded with a nice win over Jared Rosholt, and is surely looking to continue his climb back into relevance. Rothwell would provide him with that chance. On the other hand, Nelson would also provide Rothwell with a tough, but surmountable challenge. A dangerous, big-name opponent, but a break from the Overeem-Barnett-Dos Santos murderer's row with which Rothwell has tangled for the last few years.

The moral here is that even in spite of his lopsided loss to Dos Santos Rothwell still has plenty of exciting choices ahead. A vintage win (and subsequent victory dance) over any one of those options would thrust Rothwell right back into the mix in the UFC's heavyweight division.