UFC 115 Post Fight Interview: Ben Rothwell Talks Win Over Gilbert Yvel In Vancouver

Gilbert Yvel Eager To Beat Ben Rothwell At UFC 115 In Hopes To Avenge Junior Dos Santos Loss Down The Road

UFC heavyweight fighter Gilbert ‘The Hurricane’ Yvel reflects on his UFC 108 debut loss to Junior Dos Santos.  The Dutch fighter plans on making a huge statement against Ben Rothwell at UFC 115 in a goal to slowly climb his way up the heavyweight ladder.  Yvel felt pretty humiliated getting knocked out to Dos Santos within the first three minutes of the first round, but blames his loss to poor training.

Yvel will have another chance to redeem himself this Saturday night as he faces former IFL fighter Rothwell as part of the main card.  He talks about making a personal mission to fight his way up through top UFC heavyweight contenders in order to someday avenge his loss against Dos Santos sometime down the road.

From Gilbert Yvel:

“Losing is always very bad. Walking out of the cage or ring not a winner, it’s just like, I failed. It’s the worst thing ever. And OK, you can lose, but to be done so quick without even putting up a good fight — it was just terrible. I started with two sparring partners. One got knocked out in our first session and the other I did three rounds and he didn’t show up anymore. Everybody was doing the Christmas thing. But we wanted to get in the UFC and this was our chance. I knew the conditions weren’t right but I said I didn’t care. I will fight prepared or not prepared. Sometimes you have to work with the things you’ve got. I sincerely hope Dos Santos will become the champ so I can beat him. It would be great to avenge myself and take the belt from him when he’s at his high point.”

Cro Cop Satisfied With Win Over Perosh, Prepared To Fight Rothwell Next

UFC President Dana White announced during the UFC 110 post-fight press conference that Mirko Cro Cop would most likely face Ben Rothwell next, as it was originally scheduled.  Rothwell canceled his fight against Cro Cop 2 days prior to the UFC 110 event due to a severe stomach virus he was suffering.  Anthony Perosh stepped in as a late replacement, but Cro Cop was obviously more prepared  for the bout.  The Croatian sensation took home his first victory since his controversial win over Mostapha Al-Turk back in June of 2009 at UFC 99.

From Mirko Cro cop:

“I can say I was satisfied with my performance…I didn’t fight my original opponent. He canceled the fight. Perosh jumped in, and I’m grateful to him for that. He showed great courage and guts. He came to fight…but where I’m at in the heavyweight division, I don’t know. I believe I belong in the top, so we’ll see in the next fights. It depends on the next fight…I changed the way I used to train…I spent four weeks in Amsterdam at Vos Gym training with a new coach, Ivan Hippolyte, a legend of Muay Thai. And this was the first time in my career I came (to the location of the fight) two weeks before (the fight) to adapt. I always underestimate so many things…I’m a very experienced fighter, but even in Japan I came two days before. In my last fight in the States, I came two days before. They needed to wake me up before the fight. My coach needed to put ice on my back to wake me up. So I just underestimate so many things. Of course there is fuel left in me, but you need to keep training more to keep in the game….Young lions are definitely coming, the division is harder than ever.”

From Dana White:

“I think what we do is we do the fight that was supposed to happen tonight…We’ll make that fight happen, and obviously Mirko didn’t have a rough night tonight…Ben (Rothwell) isn’t out because he’s injured or anything. He got a stomach virus, so hopefully we can make this fight quick and put this one together soon…Ring rust is a real thing, and he got to get in there and at least work on his timing and everything else…Hopefully, we can back-to-back make this fight with Rothwell now and make it happen pretty soon – get him back in there and keep him active and busy.”

Anthony Perosh Replaces Ill Ben Rothwell, Set To Fight Mirko Cro Cop At UFC 110

With just a two day notice, Australian fighter Anthony Perosh was called in to take on Mirko ‘Cro Cop’ Filipovic as part of the UFC 110 main fight card.  Ben Rothwell was forced to cancel his Saturday night bout against Cro Cop due to illness.  There was no word as to what sort of illness Rothwell is suffering from, but the UFC wasted no time to finding an opponent.

Perosh told media that he was skeptical at first about taking the fight with just a 48 hour notification.  After not taking the fight when it was first offered to him, he later decided that he had more to gain than to lose if he took the bout.  The submission specialist is a second degree black belt in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu under Carlos Machado.  Perosh admits that he plans to take Cro Cop to the ground and submit him by any means necessary.

Here’s what Anthony Perosh had to say:

“I actually said ‘no’ (to replacing Ben Rothwell) originally. I look up to Cro Cop and he’s a fellow Croatian. My parents are Croatian and I’ve actually been training the other Croatians appearing on this UFC 110 card. I then went and watched yesterday’s (Thursday) press conference and listened to the comment Dana White made about how many fighters actually turn down opportunities. That just made me realize what a big chance this was. How could I turn down the opportunity to fight on the main card at UFC 110 against one of the best guys in the world? Not only that, the fight takes place on the UFC’s first ever show in Australia. I quickly called Joe Silva back and said, ‘yeah – I’ll do it’. There were just far too many positives than negatives as far as this opportunity was concerned. I’m not looking to make any excuses after the fight, whatever happens. I won’t complain about not being fit or taking the fight on short notice. Luckily, I have a lot of experience in this sport. I’m just treating this as another match. He’s just another opponent for me. I’m not putting Cro Cop on any kind of pedestal for this fight. It’s no secret that I’m going to try and take him down, ground-and-pound him and then choke him out. I believe I have the ground skills to do this. I always hoped I’d be back and here is my chance.”

Mirko Cro Cop Warns Ben Rothwell Not To Underestimate Him At UFC 110

Mirko ‘Cro Cop’ Filipovic is set to make his octagon return after a very disappointing performance at UFC 103.  Cro Cop was completely dominated by Junior Dos Santos, losing in the third round due to TKO (eye injury).

We haven’t really heard much from Mirko since his defeat in September, but what we do know is that he has been extremely focused coming into his upcoming UFC 110 bout against Pat Miletich fighter Ben Rothwell.  The Croatian sensation reminds his fans and Rothwell that he was at one point a former Pride 2006 Open Weight Grand Prix champion.  So don’t underestimate the power of the Croatian Cop.

From Mirko Filipovic:

“I don’t think anyone should underestimate me. When you have a self-made fighter like I am, with the PRIDE belt that I won, it’s not good to underestimate me. Especially right now because I’m in really good shape and I’m looking forward to this fight. [Rothwell's] very good with his ground and pound as you saw with his fight against Arlovski, but I’m not afraid. Even if we go to the ground, I will manage — but I don’t think it will go to the ground.”

Mirko Cro Cop Changes Entire Training Camp, Focused On Fighting Ben Rothwell At UFC 110

Mirko “Cro Cop” Filipovic is currently training for yet another huge bout in his mixed martial arts career.  The PrideFC 2006 open weight Grand Prix champion will be taking on Ben Rothwell as part of the UFC 110 event in Australia.  Cro Cop has been quiet for some time now and it was due to his recent loss to Junior Dos Santos back at UFC 103.  Although he was disappointed with the loss and his performance, the Croatian fighter looks to be extremely serious with his next fight against Rothwell.

Cro Cop has decided to change up his entire training camp in order to prepare himself for his next opponent.  Marjan Zizanovic is no longer his boxing coach and has released his long-time friend and sparring partner Igor Pokrajac.

From index.hr:

“After the defeat by Dos Santos, Filipovic has announced drastic changes in the training methods and composition of Team Cro Cop…Igor Pokrajac, CroCop’s long-time friend and sparring partner, is also no longer in Filipovic’s team. Pokrajac continues his career with the UFC, but is no longer training with Filipovic although the pair remain on good terms.”

The UFC 110 fight card looks to be shaping up in the following way:

Main Fight Card:

• Yoshihiro Akiyama vs. Wanderlei Silva
• Nate Marquardt vs. Chael Sonnen
• Mirko “Cro Cop” Filipovic vs. Ben Rothwell
• Stephan Bonnar vs. Krzysztof Soszynski
• James Te Huna vs. TBA

Cain Velasquez Talks Fedor, Rogers, Carwin, Nogueira, Lesnar and Rothwell

Ben Rothwell Disgusted With UFC 104 Ref Steve Mazzagatti: “The Real Fight Was Just Getting Started”

Former IFL heavyweight fighter Ben Rothwell made his UFC debut against Cain Velasquez as part of the UFC 104 co-main event.  Although Velasquez was the dominant fighter throughout the fight, Rothwell believes that referee Steve Mazzagatti stopped the fight a bit too soon.  He goes on to state that the punches thrown by the Mexican-American fighter “didn’t hurt and definitely weren’t doing any damage” during the second round stoppage.

From Ben Rothwell:

“So what, (Velasquez) was punching me, big deal, isn’t that what happens in a fight? The reality of the situation is that I was using the cage to get to my feet and which I basically did and then for some reason Steve [Mazzagatti] decides to step in. Honestly, I couldn’t believe it. I mean if the punches had some force behind them I could understand it but those were like soft jabs that didn’t hurt at all, it was like he was just hitting me to stay busy rather than damage me. That’s is why I wasn’t covering up – the punches didn’t hurt and definitely weren’t doing any damage, at least not enough to slow me down, but then he [Steve Mazzagatti] calls the fight? Please, my grandmother hits harder that that. Maybe it looked bad to those at home and to those who have never trained but I had worked back into standing position and was ready to fire back some of my own, so how bad could the punches have really been? Come on, if you would have seen me the next day you’d have hardly thought I was in a fight – I woke up the next day with barely a scratch on my face. Look at some fights I have had in my career, I’ve been in plenty of worse positions and managed to turn the fight around and win. You know Shogun wasn’t the only one robbed that night. So what If I lost the first round by a small margin, all that meant is there were still two rounds up for grabs, my shoulders were just loosening up at the beginning of the second round – the real fight was just getting started. Look, I don’t want to make this sound like I’m taking anything away from Cain, he’s a great fighter, probably one of the best in the heavy weight division at the moment. I just feel like I’ve been working my entire career to get this shot in the UFC, only to have it taken away from me by an incompetent referee. Losing is one thing but to have such a big opportunity taken from you? I’m disgusted.”

UFC 104 Post-Fight Interview: Cain Velasquez Talks Early Stoppage Victory Over Ben Rothwell

Cain Velasquez To Make Ben Rothwell “Regret He Was In The Cage” At UFC 104

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