Preview: UFC Fight Night 197 ‘Holloway vs. Rodriguez’

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Heavyweights

NR | Ben Rothwell (39-13, 9-7 UFC) vs. NR | Marcos Rogerio de Lima (18-7-1, 7-5 UFC)

ODDS: Rothwell (-150), de Lima (+130)

Twenty years into his professional career, Rothwell is still chugging along. Rothwell was already a well-traveled veteran by the time the UFC picked him up in 2009, and from there, “Big Ben” hung around as a fringe contender while never quite getting over the hump to a title shot. Rothwell always got by on his surprising amount of quickness for such a massive human. While his approach is not particularly pretty, Rothwell has historically had just enough movement to his game to keep his opponents on their toes. Add in his ridiculous level of durability and a shockingly slick submission game, and Rothwell could typically at least force his opponent to settle for an ugly victory. However, after a 2016 loss to Junior dos Santos ended Rothwell’s most earnest run at title contention, the Wisconsin native suffered a string of injuries and failed drug tests that left him on the shelf for nearly three years, during which he certainly seems to have lost a step. Rothwell is still a savvy veteran who is ridiculously tough, but time has sapped him of that extra bit of athleticism and speed that kept him near the top of the division. Thankfully for Rothwell, durability and size have been enough to win about half the time since his comeback, but he has looked particularly poor in his losses, mostly serving as a punching bag for quicker fighters. At any rate, he gets what figures to be an advantageous matchup here against Brazil’s Rogerio de Lima.

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Spending most of his UFC career at light heavyweight, “Pezao” was most notable for how quickly his fights would end, win or lose. His approach is essentially to hunt for the knockout early at the expense of everything else, leaving him an easy target by the end of the first round. That has mostly held true since the Brazilian has moved up to heavyweight, though Rogerio de Lima is now occasionally content to throw all his weight behind a grinding wrestling game. He brought it out in a May win over Maurice Greene. Unless age and wear have suddenly caught up with Rothwell to an additional degree, it does not appear as though either of Rogerio de Lima’s approaches will work. Rothwell is too durable to knock out, and too large and too skilled for the Brazilian to wrestle effectively. The pick is Rothwell via second-round stoppage.

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