Coming into their UFC 135 bout, the smart money said that if the fight went to the ground it was Ben Rothwell's, while if it stayed standing, Mark Hunt would leave with his hand raised. But there's a reason why they have the fights, right?
Early on, Hunt moved out of the way of a takedown attempt rather easily. Then he landed a solid punch. Rothwell, threw a jab and then looked for another takedown that missed by a mile. Hunt then landed a combination. Soon after, Hunt connected with a hard left hand, which eventually led to another takedown attempt by Rothwell. This time, he brought Hunt down hard. Though Rothwell did gain the mount for a moment, he was only able to connect with a small amount of ground and pound before Hunt exploded up. Still Rothwell was steadfast in his determination to bring the Samoan to the ground. But he was not successful. Hunt landed a solid punch, shirked a takedown, and then put Rothwell on his back. After a couple of brief punches and an elbow that opened up a cut, Rothwell got up. Lots of scrambling. That said, it all eventually led to Rothwell on top of his opponent with side control, landing some short punches and elbows. Then came the bell.
A very close round.
Round two saw a solid low kick by Hunt early on. Both fighters look tired. Later, he connected with another hard low kick. Rothwell hit home with a solid right hand. After avoiding some big strikes from Hunt, he shot in for the takedown to no avail. While inside, Hunt hit home with a hard right uppercut. Then-again, surprisingly- Hunt took Rothwell down. There, he hit home with some solid ground and pound, including a ton of elbows as time went on. Shockingly, as Hunt took a dominant ground position, he transitioned to a valid armbar attempt that simply ran out of time.
Hunt has improved his ground skills tremendously while working with AKA. Rothwell is pretty beat up here.
In the third, Hunt immediately started throwing bombs. He connected with several of them. This eventually led to Rothwell on the ground with full guard. Due to a lack of action, the referee stood the two up. Rothwell pretty much fell down after a failed takedown attempt, allowing Hunt to get on top of him. The Samoan gained side control, where hammerfists and more landed. Yet for some reason, the referee stood them up despite Hunt continuing to work, albeit slowly due to extreme fatigue. From there, the two somehow fought on, neither with much in the line of energy. Shockingly, Rothwell ended up on the top on the ground at the end of the fight, even if he barely had the energy to walk. But it was still clearly Hunt's night.
Mark Hunt defeats Ben Rothwell by unanimous decision.
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