Heavyweight veteran Ben Rothwell 37-12, 28 KOs, 6 SUBs will meet former light heavyweight Ovince St. Preux 24-13, 11 KOs, 8 SUBs at UFC Fight Night 171 on Wednesday, May 13 at the Vystar Veterans Memorial Arena in Jacksonville, Florida. The card airs live starting at 9pm ET.
For a long time, Ovince St. Preux has been one of the bigger dudes at light heavyweight. This Wednesday, he’ll be the noticeably smaller man when he steps up a weight class to meet Big Ben Rothwell.
Don’t expect it to be permanent - OSP and his coach saw an opportunity for a fight when Rothwell lost his original opponent. Career-wise, there really is no downside here: if he loses, nobody is going to fault him for failing against a guy 30 pounds heavier. If St. Preux wins, he’s got a ton of options in a new weight class. It all adds up to more ways to get paid.
“It’s definitely not permanent,” said St. Preux about the move. “If there’s an opportunity for me to bounce up and down, I’ll definitely do that.”
Rothwell returned from a PEDs suspension in 2019, and has only managed a 1-2 record since then. After back-to-back losses to Blagoy Ivanov and Andrei Arlovski, the 38-year old managed a win over Stefan Struve this past December. Rothwell is probably close to hanging it up, and losing to an upjumped light heavyweight could speed up that decision.
The UFC odds at BookMaker.eu opened with Ovince St. Preux as a clear favorite, but let’s take a look at the online sportsbook and break down your best betting options.
Ben Rothwell +120
Ovince St. Preux -150
Fight goes/doesn’t go to decision: +165 / -215
Significant Striking Stats
Strikes landed per minute: Rothwell 3.38 / St. Preux 2.49
Striking accuracy: Rothwell 42% / St. Preux 42%
Strikes absorbed per minute: Rothwell 6.36 / St. Preux 3.97
Striking defense: Rothwell 47% / St. Preux 44%
Grappling Stats
Takedowns per 15 minutes: Rothwell 0.85 / St. Preux 1.14
Takedown accuracy: Rothwell 31% / St. Preux 31%
Takedown defense: Rothwell 69% / St. Preux 65%
Submissions per 15 minutes: Rothwell 0.49 / St. Preux 0.49
Rothwell has lasted very long time - nearly 20 years - despite a total lack of athleticism and an awkward style. Then again, being a big, tough dude with knockout power and surprising submissions can carry a heavyweight pretty far.
At his best, Rothwell was a solid top-10 guy with a four-fight winning streak that included victories over Alistair Overeem and Josh Barnett. But Rothwell never had the skillset or physical talents to consistently beat elite fighters, and even worse he’s been outstruck by mediocre ones. He really doesn’t have a top-level skill he can rely on for a win.
Still, as much as we fade Rothwell, we have our doubts about OSP as well. For starters, the Knoxville native is wildly inconsistent - sometimes he’ll show up extremely gunshy, or he’ll gas after just one active round. Then there are times where he notches a quick finish, looking every bit like the top 5 light heavyweight he used to be. At 37, he is what he is: a heavy hitter and an excellent submission grappler.
UFC Odds Pick: Rothwell to win at +120
Big Ben is a live ‘dog. While he’ll have to deal with being the slower fighter, he is very good at making fights ugly. We expect this to be a trench war with a ton of clinch fighting, which favors Rothwell due to his size and toughness. Take a small chance on the Big Ben to pull off a minor upset.
UFC Odds Pick: Fight goes to decision at +165
Ovince St. Preux is a sneaky finisher, and heavyweight fights tend to end in finish. But he’s literally punching above his weight against a dude that made his career off being tough. At this price, we’re willing to bet a small amount that this goes to decision.
