UFC Fight Night: Overeem vs. Rothwell

Alistair Overeem (37-13) vs. Ben Rothwell (33-9)

Alistair Overeem looks to build off a victory at Saturday's UFC Fight Night as he takes on Ben Rothwell Friday night in Connecticut.

Overeem has had an interesting past couple of years in his career, but he appears to be heading in the right path after a dominating victory against Frank Mir. In the matchup on Feb. 1, Overeem was able to get a victory by way of unanimous decision. At 34 years old, this is the type of match that Overeem has to win. He is a strong fighter that has the ability to win by knockout at any given moment. He is very athletic for this weight class, and his rare combination of speed and power makes him very difficult to compete with. His opponent Rothwell is also coming off a nice victory against Brandon Vera. In that fight, Rothwell delivered a vicious knockout by way of punches and knees. He is not the athlete that Overeem is, but he has the strength and power to compete with Overeem. If “The Reem” wants any chance of ever getting back into the title talks, he has to win this fight, and win it in convincing style. Rothwell will give a good challenge, but in the end, heavily favored OVEREEM will take care of business.

Overeem has an impressive 37 victories in his career, with 19 of them coming by way of submission. He also has 14 wins by knockout, and three wins by decision. He can win a match in many different ways, but will have a big advantage when it comes to significant strikes. He lands 3.75 per minute, compared to 2.66 per minute by Rothwell. He is also much more accurate when it comes to landing strikes, connecting 58 percent of the time compared to 44 percent for Rothwell. A key in this fight will be if Rothwell can keep up with Overeem. The longer this match goes, the more of an advantage it is for Overeem. However, if Rothwell can get off to a fast start, then he has a chance to get the victory.

Rothwell also has a lot of wins on his resume, as he heads into this fight with 33 career victories. The 32-year-old from Wisconsin has 23 victories by knockout. He also has seven wins by submission and three by decision. This is a tough matchup for Rothwell as his biggest strength is his striking, but Overeem is even better. If this match goes to the ground, Overeem will be very difficult to beat as he has a takedown average of 1.81, compared to 1.15 for Rothwell. He also lands only 36 percent of his takedowns, compared to 73 percent for Overeem. For Rothwell to win this fight, he has to get off to a fast start and make it a brawl. If he is unable to do that, he will have no chance of getting a win.