‘Big’ Ben Rothwell claimed a big TKO victory over Brandon Vera tonight at UFC 164 in Milwaukee.
Round One
The circle each other to start this one off. Vera fires off a few quick strikes and each time Rothwell’s waiting to throw some heavy leather of his own.
Rothwell slips and Vera tries to capitalize, but is unable to land a telling blow.
Rothwell lands a hard shot and it backs Vera up and he bounces off the cage. Soon after Vera lands a solid kick to the body.
Very nice left hook from Vera as Rothwell continues to press forward confidently. Vera’s using a lot of lateral movement now.
Vera scores another hard body kick. A few punches land from Rothwell and Vera circles away. Rothwell lands a leg kick.
Vera resets in the center of the cage and cracks of a body kick. Rothwell with another inside kick and attempts a high kick.
In the final seconds the two are circling each other cautiously, then Rothwell looks for a kick in the final second and it lands to the groin and forces a brief stoppage.
Round Two
Short leg kick from Vera to start the second round, then another. A third follows and Rothwell lands one of his own.
Rothwell presses forward and presses him up against the cage, but Vera circles out. Rothwell upstairs with a kick that’s blcoked.
Up against the cage Rothwell unleashes a few punches then works into the clinch. They trade knees to the body. Rothwell breaks free and lands a punch on the way out.
Uppercuts exchanged as Rothwell follows Vera around the cage. Leg kick lands for Rothwell and a hard one follows in return for Vera.
Rothwell pawing with the jab and Vera lands another kick and soon after tries a head kick that’s blocked.
A few punches from Rothwell and he gets back into the clinch against the cage once more. Rothwell backs out and unleashes some more hard strikes and Vera lands an elbow.
Back to circling around the cage and Vera tries a speculative head kick. Straight left for Vera and a couple of more punches. Rothwell tries for a head kick just as the round ends.
Round Three
Final round underway and Vera pops off a one-two combo. Rothwell takes a leaf out of his opponent’s book with a body kick then closes the distance and clinches against the cage. Nothing happening here though and the ref separates them.
Another high kick from Rothwell. Rothwell starts bobbing about energetically and somewhat oddly around the cage which raises a laugh from the crowd.
Rothwell goes into the clinch again then breaks free and suddenly unleashes with strikes and he’s got Vera in trouble here with uppercuts appearing to rock ‘The Truth’.
More strikes follow and Vera’s clearly hurt and covering up. A big knee lands and a clipping right hand follows which folds Vera onto the canvas. More shots follow on the ground and that’s it, Rothwell’s got the TKO victory with 1.54mins gone in the third round!
