Rothwell returns after two year suspension, faces Ivanov in March

Bloodyelbow.com

Heading into Ben Rothwell’s bout against Junior Dos Santos in 2016, the Wisconsinite had carved himself out a spot as one of the UFC’s top heavyweights. A four fight win streak, including a KO over Alistair Overeem and the only true submission loss of former champion Josh Barnett’s long MMA career, had put ‘Big’ Ben in sniffing distance of possible title contention.

The 3 years since that win over Barnett, however, have brought nothing but setbacks. Rothwell lost his fight to JDS; a dominant decision win for the Brazilian. Following which, a knee injury scuppered the chance at a quick bounce-back against former champion Fabricio Werdum. The ‘Vai Cavalo’ fight was re-booked for early 2017, but a failed drug test – the second of Rothwell’s career – iced any hope of a quick re-entry to top form.

Rothwell tested positive for an “anabolic androgenic steroid of exogenous origin,” his first drug test failure under USADA — the previous failure for elevated testosterone levels in 2013 came before the UFC partnered with the testing agency. However, that test failure was still enough to net Rothwell a two-year suspension, one that ends on February 6th of this year.

So, with his return to competitive availability incoming, the UFC has already got him booked for his next fight. MMAjunkie has recently confirmed a report from the website MMA Bulgaria stating that Rothwell will meet former World Series of Fighting & PFL heavyweight champion Blagoy Ivanov at a to be named UFC event in March.

Ivanov (16-2 1 NC) made his UFC debut against Junior Dos Santos back in July of 2018, after a single fight for the PFL — where he defended the promotion’s transitional heavyweight title from the WSOF. He lost a unanimous decision to Dos Santos, his first defeat since losing the 2014 Bellator heavyweight tournament finale to Alexander Volkov.

The UFC currently has five events planned for March, with one PPV, three UFC Fight Night cards on ESPN+, and the promotion’s second ESPN TV fight card. No word yet as to which of those Rothwell vs. Ivanov will land on, so stay tuned to Bloody Elbow for more news and updates.