Ben Rothwell won at UFC DC on Saturday night, but not without controversy.
After landing multiple fight-pausing groin shots, Rothwell (37-12 MMA, 7-6 UFC) defeated Stefan Struve by TKO by punches in the second round.
The heavyweight fight was part of the UFC on ESPN 7 main card at Capital One Arena in Washington, D.C. It aired on ESPN following prelims on ESPN and early prelims on UFC Fight Pass/ESPN+.
Midway through the opening round, Struve (29-11 MMA, 13-9 UFC) landed a massive head kick, which wobbled Rothwell. Seconds later, Rothwell landed a hard kick of his own – but directly to Struve’s groin.
The low blow sent the seven-foot Netherlands native tumbling to the canvas. For almost the full timeout allotment of five minutes, Struve writhed in pain. Every time Struve showed a sign of progress by rising to his feet and putting his head up, he was met with cheers. Every time he regressed or put his head back down, he was booed.
As his allotted recovery time wound down, Struve agreed to continue and the action resumed.
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In the second round, it was deja vu. Attempting a body kick, Rothwell once again went low. Struve went through a similar recovery process.
While Struve was trying to decide whether or not to continue, referee Dan Miragliotta added some editorial to the situation. Miragliotta told Struve he believed he was up two rounds to nothing and if the fight was stopped, a no contest would be his ruling.
Struve consented for the fight to continue and Miragliotta deducted a point from Rothwell. The point deduction seemingly lit a fire under Rothwell.
When the action resumed, Rothwell charged across the cage winging strikes at Struve. A hard checked leg kick by Rothwell put Struve on his back foot. As Rothwell swarmed, Struve crumpled to the canvas and Miragliotta waived off the bout.
After the fight, Rothwell voiced his displeasure with the way things went down and gave props to Struve’s toughness.
With the victory, Rothwell snapped a three-fight losing streak. His previous victory came against Josh Barnett at UFC on FOX 18 in January 2016.
At the start of training camp for this fight, Rothwell reunited with his old coach Duke Roufus at Roufusport in Milwaukee.
As for Struve, “The Skyscraper” has lost four of his past five fights.
Up-to-the-minute UFC on ESPN 7 results include:
- Ben Rothwell def. Stefan Struve via TKO (punches) – Round 2, 4:57
- Aspen Ladd def. Yana Kunitskaya via TKO (punches) – Round 3, 0:33
- Cody Stamann vs. Song Yadong declared majority draw (29-27, 28-28, 28-28)
- Rob Font def. Ricky Simon via unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 30-27)
- Tim Means def. Thiago Alves via submission (guillotine choke) – Round 1, 2:38
- Billy Quarantillo def. Jacob Kilburn via submission (triangle choke) – Round 2, 3:18
- Bryce Mitchell def. Matt Sayles via submission (twister) – Round 1, 4:20
- Joe Solecki def. Matt Wiman via unanimous decision (30-26, 30-26, 30-27)
- Virna Jandiroba def. Mallory Martin via submission (rear-naked choke) – Round 2, 1:16
- Makhmud Muradov def. Trevor Smith via knockout (punch) – Round 3, 4:09
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