SCRAPP! FIGHT MAGAZINE
November - 2015
39
one could say it wasn’t
earned. Both men are le-
git contenders, and who-
ever loses will realistically
be back to the top with
just a couple of wins.
Then there’s the afore-
mentioned JDS squar-
ing off against Alistair
Overeem. Overeem’s ear-
ly UFC run was dogged
by scandal and failure,
and he certainly didn’t
do himself any favors by
dodging a drug test prior
to the Brock Lesnar fight,
which was mired in con-
troversy stemming from
the hulking Dutch fight-
er’s questionable eth-
ics. When he eventually
popped for elevated tes-
tosterone, was suspend-
ed, and then lost two
straight in devastating
fashion, it seemed like
the Overeem experiment
in the UFC was over.
A win over Frank Mir
bought him a stay of
execution, however his
next loss to Ben Rothwell
served as a reality check.
Yet again he bounced
back, with a pair of wins
over Stefan Struve and
Roy Nelson. Should he
overcome Dos Santos in
December, Overeem will
have made a case for
a title shot of his own,
especially if Arlovski vs.
Miocic ends in injury or
controversy.
Speaking of Frank Mir,
after a two fight win
streak,
his
setback
agaisnt Arlovski — a
slow, plodding decision
loss — is far from the
end, and another couple
of wins would see him
right back in the thick of
things, given his status
as a former champion.
Last but not least, the
man who lost out on
Miocic’s recent injury,
and booking against
Arlovski, Big Ben Roth-
well. Rothwell has a trio
of wins, including his
knockout of Overeem
and submission of Matt
Mitrione. He’s essentially
a win or two away if only
because the men before
him have name value,
which is what the UFC
recognizes more than
anything, but a couple
of key losses from those
ahead of him in the divi-
sion, and all of a sudden
Rothwell is a contender
with just another win.
The heavyweight division
is easy to dismiss as be-
ing shallow in compari-
son to the talent-rich wa-
ters down at lightweight
and welterweight, but
the reality is, this is prob-
ably the most interesting
the division has been in
years.
If only the UFC would
stop booking immediate
rematches, or rematches
coming off a single win,
for downed champions.
That’s exactly the rea-
son no one wants to see
Velasquez vs. JDS 4, or
even Werdum vs. Velas-
quez 2 at this point. God
help you, UFC, if you
ever give us Velasquez
vs. Bigfoot 3. For now,
however, there’s a glim-
mer of hope.
