UFC 164 Live: Ben Rothwell vs Brandon Vera

by Dr. Octagon, J.D.

Round 1: Brandon Vera kicks the leg and Ben Rothwell lands a right. Rothwell down from a leg kick, but he pops up and lands an uppercut. Big right from Rothwell, but he eats one as well. Rothwell with a right. Big kick to the body by Vera. Big leg kick from Vera. Rothwell with a left.  Vera lands a right, but Rothwell walks right through it. Rothwell is landing way too many punches, Vera needs to be careful.

Rothwell lands a left. Kick to the body by Vera. Rothwell lands a left, then another. Kick by Rothwell. Rothwell is getting sick of chasing Vera; he tells Vera to come after him. Vera obliges with a kick to the body. Leg kick by Rothwell. A head kick almost lands for Rothwell. Rothwell lands a kick to the nuts, just as the round should have been ending. When they re-start the fight, the round is just going to end.

This fight is like Nick Diaz vs Carlos Condit if the fight took place in a vat of molasses. Terrible to watch so far.  ’m going to give the first round to Rothwell because he’s landing better strikes and coming forward.[[MORE]]

10-9 Rothwell.

Round 2: Leg kick by Vera. The fighters trade kicks. Rothwell lands an uppercut from in close. A pair of punches land for Vera. Rothwell lands a head kick, then a right. Rothwell has a clinch on Vera, but Vera is tricky against the cage. Rothwell lands a punch on  the break.

Right lands for Rothwell. Rothwell lands an uppercut and Vera returns fire. Vera looked like he was going toshoot, but Rothwell shook him off. Rothwell is just following Vera around the cage. Vera lands a leg kick. Jab lands for Rothwell. Leg kick by Vera. Head kick misses for Vera. Vera tries for a single, but Ben pushes him off. Not a lot of action here.

Ben lands a punch to the body and clinches. Big right by Rothwell. Brandon comes back with an elbow. Kick to the body by Rothwell. Left to the body by Vera. Left lands for Vera. Another left for Vera. Head kick lands for Rothwell as the round ends.

This fight is awful. Vera really wants nothing to do with Rothwell’s power and he’s not going to win this fight with leg kicks.

10-9 Rothwell.

Round 3: Body kick by Rothwell hurts Vera. Knees by Rothwell from the clinch.  Referee Herb Dean breaks them up. Rothwell lands an uppercut. Rothwell doing an awkward slow motion Clay Guida impersonation, bobbing and weaving as he swarms Vera. Rothwell ands a big right, then a left, followed by a big uppercut. Rothwell landing tons of rights against the fence, then a left. Rothwell is pouring it on.

Vera is out on his feet. Brandon Vera is holding his face as falls. Vera goes down. Rothwell finishes it as Herb Dean ends it. 

Rothwell by TKO. Rothwell finally realized that Vera did not have enough power to stop him.

Rothwell calls out Travis Browne. I don’t think he would stand a chance against Browne. I don’t think there are many heavyweights that Vera is going to be able to tangle with if he looked this bad against Rothwell (except for maybe one of those dudes on the Facebook undercard, who we’ll hopefully not see again until their cardio improves). Time for Vera to go back down to light heavyweight or re-retire.

There’s an advertisement for the new Assassin’s Creed game. I hate it when they insert ads into my $70 Pay Per View feed, but I am a fan of this series of games. They are basically taking the pirate parts from AC3 and making them into a full game, so I’m going to give them a pass just this once.