A blistering 70 seconds of heavyweight action tonight at UFC 145 resulted in a dramatic TKO victory for Ben Rothwell against Brendan Schaub.
It was in fact Schaub who looked to be in the driving seat initially when he caught Rothwell by surprise with a spinning elbow strike which left him hurt and reversing quickly to buy himself some breathing room.
Schaub was in no mood to let him off the hook however and he came pressing forward aggresively looking for a definitive finish.
That would prove to be his undoing however as he unleashes a flurry of strikes he leaves an opening and Rothwell finds that gap with a big left hook to the temple that sends Schaub crashing to the mat.
Schaub is dazed, but still conscious, though not for long as Rothwell lands just one ground and pound strike that switches out his lights with 1.10mins on the clock.
Almost immediately after the fight is stopped Schaub springs back to life and a confused state he flails around for a moment as if the fight isn’t finished.
There’s no doubt in my mind that Schaub was out, but officially it’s marked down as a TKO victory for Rothwell in what’s undoubtedly his biggest victory inside the UFC’s octagon so far.
As for Schaub, this is his second defeat in a row and the third brutal finish of his UFC career which will leave major doubts over his chin from this point forward.
