By now I’m sure everyone has heard the shocking news that Cain Velasquez has pulled out of his UFC 196 heavyweight title fight with Fabricio Werdum; stepping up to take his place is Stipe Miocic. It was a bout that was going to give Velasquez a chance to redeem the title that Werdum beat out of him back at UFC 188. However, many fight fans pondered whether or not this rematch was warranted in the first place. Of course the big narrative of the first match was how much Mexico City’s high altitude affected Cain Velasquez’s cardio whereas Fabricio Werdum was well acclimated to the altitude. Nevertheless, we are faced with a new match up that may just garner more interest and attention than the original rematch between Cain Velasquez and Fabricio Werdum.
While this is no doubt a massive opportunity for Stipe Miocic, you also have to think that Miocic is getting the short end of the stick here. Miocic along with Alistair Overeem and Ben Rothwell are the three top contenders in the heavyweight division. Rothwell has a scheduled upcoming fight with Josh Barnett at UFC on FOX 18, while Miocic and Overeem were previously awaiting a future opponent. With Velasquez’s injury, there now was an option for either Overeem or Miocic to get their desired title shot, but with only two weeks to prepare for it. It’ll give Miocic the chance to rise to the occasion, but it sure sucks that Stipe Miocic’s title shot (which he has been campaigning for since 2015) comes in less-than-desired conditions.
That being said, I believe the UFC played their cards right by putting Miocic in there last-minute against Werdum. Alistair Overeem can now sit and wait to take on the winner. Overeem has an existing win over Fabricio Werdum (albeit a lackluster performance), and has not faced Stipe Miocic yet. I believe the UFC’s plan is to build Alistair Overeem up for a massive heavyweight title fight for UFC 200 where Overeem can take on either Werdum or Miocic (it’d be better if it was Werdum).
So now that brings the question, “what happens to Ben Rothwell?” Unfortunately for Ben Rothwell, he’s the one who gets the shortest stick of them all. If Rothwell defeats Josh Barnett on February 2nd, he will have a 4-fight winning streak as well as a 1st round KO win over Alistair Overeem. This should make him a more worthy contender than Overeem, but one has to look at the drawing power of the fighters as well as their marketability. Overeem is a bigger name, a more marketable appearance, and has quite the highlight reel.
Expect Ben Rothwell to have to face another contender – like maybe a healed up Cain Velasquez? This brings on the discussion of whether or not Cain Velasquez should get his title shot back after he heals from his back injury, or if he blew his chance and needs to earn it back. I could see the UFC booking a Ben Rothwell vs. Cain Velasquez bout if Rothwell can get past Josh Barnett. No matter what happens, I don’t think the UFC heavyweight division has had this much attention and interest surrounding it now that we have contenders like Stipe Miocic, Alistair Overeem, Ben Rothwell, Josh Barnett, Cain Velasquez, and Andrei Arlovski.
To summarize: we’ll see if Stipe Miocic can rise to the occasion, but again, taking a title fight on two weeks notice is not what Miocic envisioned his title shot being like I’m sure. But this paves the way for a massive championship bout with Alistair Overeem. Meanwhile, expect Rothwell to keep grinding his way up the ladder despite already knockout out Overeem.
