UFC Fight Night: Zagreb (4/10/16): JDS vs Rothwell

[lilfishi22]

UFC Fight Night Zagreb just got a major update: Former UFC heavyweight champion Junior Dos Santos will face Big Ben Rothwell in the main event of the evening.

As the promotion has announced, the April 10th UFC Fight Night event in Zagreb, Croatia, will be headlined by a heavyweight fight between former champion Junior Dos Santos and Ben Rothwell.

For the last 3 years Ben Rothwell slowly turned away his status as a solid gatekeeper to the top 5 of the UFC heavyweight division. After his loss to Gabriel Gonzaga in 2013, "Big Ben" scored four consecutive finishes over Brandon Vera, Alistair Overeem and Matt Mitrione, ending up with a major upset in his fight with Josh Barnett at UFC on Fox 18 in January. Another one or two wins can make Ben Rothwell a legit UFC heavyweight title challenger.

Since his 2nd loss to Cain Velasquez in 2013, which ended the dramatic trilogy, "Cigano" has fought only two times. He scored a close win over Stipe Miocic then suffered a nasty KO loss by Alistair Overeem in December.

The UFC management rarely makes these "winner vs loser" type of match-ups, and this more than unusual matchmaking reveals a bit of a growing crisis in the heavyweight division more than anything else.

Among the other bouts of UFC Fight Night Zagreb, we should expect a very interesting heavyweight clash between surging Russian fighter of Dagestan origin Ruslan Magomedov (14-1), who will look to break into the top 15 by unleashing his kickboxing prowess on Gabriel Gonzaga.

Also announced to be on the card are Bojan Velickovic vs Alessio Di Chirico, Marcin Tybura vs Tim Johnson, and Mairbek Taisumov vs Damir Hadzovic.

http://www.bloodyelbow.com/2016/2/8/10935982/junior-dos-santos-vs-ben-rothwell-to-headline-ufc-fight-night-zagreb

JDS got KO'd just over a month ago and he's going to be back in the cage in 3 months...and against a guy who just won his last fight to get him into Top 5 HW rankings. Weird match ups the UFC has been putting together lately

[Bernman]

I fear for JDS' health against a Big Ben who is on a warpath to his destiny. Best case scenario is he gets gorilla choked into submission instead of clubbed again to accumulate more damage upstairs. He should just pull guard from the outset.

[AirCanadaMouse]

Main Card (FS1, 2 PM ET/11 AM PT)

Junior dos Santos vs. Ben Rothwell
Derrick Lewis vs. Gabriel Gonzaga
Curtis Blaydes vs. Francis Ngannou
Timothy Johnson vs. Marcin Tybura
Jan Blachowicz vs. Igor Pokrajac
Maryna Moroz vs. Cristina Stanciu

Preliminary Card (FS1, 12 PM ET/9 AM PT)

Zak Cummings vs. Nicolas Dalby
Damir Hadzovic vs. Mairbek Taisumov
Ian Entwistle vs. Alejandro Perez
Filip Pejic vs. Damian Stasiak

Preliminary Card (Fight Pass, 10:30 AM ET/7:30 AM PT)

Lucas Martins vs. Robert Whiteford
Cyril Asker vs. Jared Cannonier
Alessio Di Chirico vs. Bojan Velickovic




.... It's a terrible card on paper, but that doesn't mean we won't get to see some good fights. Shows how little interested people are in this event since no thread was made on it.

[lilfishi22]

Hey mate, there's already a thread for this

http://forums.realgm.com/boards/viewtopic.php?f=270&t=1426328

[CPT]

Merged.

Could not give less of a **** otherwise.

[REDDzone]

Yea, whatever. Will watch the main event if I happen to be home and its convenient. Otherwise, terrible event. I hope the Dark Lord Rothwell wins, hopefully via his trademark choke as opposed to inflicting too much damage to JDS.

[Knickfan1982]

Yea, whatever. Will watch the main event if I happen to be home and its convenient. Otherwise, terrible event. I hope the Dark Lord Rothwell wins, hopefully via his trademark choke as opposed to inflicting too much damage to JDS.

Ehhh this is a fight pass card if there ever was one.

[Jasen777]

Legit haven't heard of the guys in the 3rd fight.

[lilfishi22]

I'll watch the main card to get my UFC fix. I'm just hoping it's one of those cards with a bunch of guys I've never heard of that brings the unexpected KO's and subs.

[REDDzone]

Not watching this but just saw Taisumov won. He's 5-1 in the ufc now, you'd think at some point they would give him a fight vs someone that people have actually heard of. I mean he's got 30 fights, not like he's green himself. They'll probably keep comparing him to gsp in the intros though.

[Wo1verine]

I am hopeful JDS can bounce back from his last defeat - I find he needs to be aggressive and really push the pace something he really didn't do his last time out unfortunately.

[AirCanadaMouse]

Sorry for making a duplicate thread. Has been a pretty unenvetful card for the most part as expected.

[Wo1verine]

That JDS stomach kick was awesome to end the round, Rothwell likely saved by the bell!

[Susan]

JDS is on roids. I'd bet $5 on it.

[AirCanadaMouse]

That main event really delivered after a lackluster card.

Wow, JDS looked great. This won't take Rothwell out of contention for the title just yet but this was has to be a huge blow.... the Heavyweight division just got a lot more interesting. I oddly had this division going the other way, I actually thought Mir would be the fighter that would silence the haters against Hunt, while JDS would continue his decline. So much for that non sense.

[Jasen777]

Lewis might not have won that without ref imposed clinch breaks.

[cowboyronnie]

OMG, this is going to drive me insane. Rothwell stabbing his fingers out there. I actually think he's trying to avoid being dirty. But it's not good enough. He was warned twice, still caught Junior with an eye poke. He needs to lose a point the next time he even stabs them out there, esp when he's backing up and holding them out there fully extended. The ref can't wait to warn him just the next time he connects with the eye. You hit someone with a police tazer and then continue to wave it around between the two of you, you're profiting from that foul. Even if you don't actually connect a second time.

Most effective single technique in the LHW/HW division. Framing with your lead hand with your fingers extended.

[Nightmaree]

Janek and Igor deserved that FOTN bonus...