Ben Rothwell Rips Into Cain Velasquez's Reign As Heavyweight Champion

Ben Rothwell made his UFC debut against Cain Velasquez at UFC 104 in Oct. 2009. The former heavyweight emerged victorious that night defeating the former IFL champ by second-round TKO.

There have been times during his UFC run that injuries have stopped Velasquez in his track including a time when he was champion when he didn’t defend his title from the end of 2013 at UFC 166 against Junior dos Santos to when he faced Fabricio Werdum at UFC 188 in June 2015. The time off between title defenses upset “Big Ben” and feels the American Kickboxing Academy fighter could have competed and was milking his injuries.

“I’ve had ten losses and I’ve never been able to get one of those back,” Rothwell said on BJ Penn Radio. “Cain and Junior [Dos Santos] are two guys ranked in front that I’ve lost to and the two guys I could make that up with, it’s one of them. “If I only could fight one of them I think it would have to be Cain because that one really pisses me off.”

“It pissed me off what he did with the title, where he sat on it for a couple years and really messed up the heavyweight division. I think he learned how to milk it. For him and his family and his finances, it was great for him, but it screwed everything up for the rest of us.”

Rothwell and Velasquez currently don’t have fights scheduled. The Wisconsin native would love to have another crack against someone who he’s lost too in the past.

“It’s really tough to say [what the future holds for Velasquez] but based on what we hear circulating, it doesn’t sound good,” Rothwell said. “I don’t want him to leave because that’s a guy I’ve always thought I’d cross paths with again. He’s a big name and I’ve never got to fight any of the guys that I’ve lost to,” Rothwell said.