Heavyweights Ben Rothwell and Mark Hunt face off on the main card of the UFC 135 pay-per-view event from Denver, Colorado's Pepsi Center. Rothwell (31-7, 1-1 UFC) a former IFL heavyweight champion has struggled with injuries in his UFC tenure. He's coming off a 15 month layoff from knee surgery to treat a torn ACL.
Hunt (6-7, 1-1 UFC) is a veteran of Pride Fighting Championships and K-1 kickboxing. He owes his current UFC career to an unusually stringent contract he had with Pride when the UFC's parent company bought that organization. Somehow it took three years from the time of the acquisition for Hunt to get his first UFC fight. He looked bad in that one, a loss to Sean McCorkle, but his last outing against Chris Tuchscherer resulted in a dramatic highlight reel KO.
A lot will come down to how well Rothwell has bounced back from knee surgery. Provided Big Ben is more than a shadow of his old self, he should be able to put Hunt on the ground and finish him there. If he can't put Hunt down and keep him down, it will be a bad night for Rothwell.
| Aspect | Rothwell | Points | Hunt | Advantage |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Range Fighting | ||||
| Boxing | Solid | 2 | Thud Boom Crunch | Hunt |
| Kickboxing | Decent | 1 | K-1 | Hunt |
| Wrestling | Good | 1 | Floundering | Rothwell |
| Clinch Fighting | ||||
| Dirty Boxing | Nasty | 1 | Wicked | Hunt |
| Thai Clinch | Mean | 1 | Limited | Rothwell |
| Throws/Trips | Good | 1 | None | Rothwell |
| Ground Fighting | ||||
| Positional Control | Good Not Great | 1 | Minimal | Rothwell |
| Scrambling | Mobile | 1 | Beached | Rothwell |
| Ground and Pound | Powerful | 1 | Battering | Tie |
| Submissions | Formidable | 1 | Submissions? | Rothwell |
| Intangibles | ACL Surgery | 1 | Last Run for Glory | Hunt |
| Overall | Well Rounded | 6/5 | One Dimensional | Rothwell |