Rothwell open to any fight on path to title: 'I don't want anything given to me'

The UFC heavyweight division is desperate for contenders these days, but that doesn't mean Ben Rothwell is looking for a handout.

A pair of injury withdrawals by Fabricio Werdum and Cain Velasquez decimated the heavyweight championship headliner of UFC 196 (now UFC Fight Night 82), creating a murky situation at the top of the division. "Big Ben" understands that a win over Josh Barnett at UFC on FOX 18 would put him that much closer to the his first UFC title shot after almost two decades in MMA.

"The world knows I'm one of the top fighters. It's just going out and putting these guys away and earning what's mine," Rothwell told MMAjunkie.com. "I've been paying my dues for 17 years, I'm not about to stop. I don't want anything given to me. Start putting these guys in here and I'm gonna earn my spot. When I go in for a title fight, I want the whole world to be like, 'Yes, Ben Rothwell deserves it.' I don't want any dispute.

"If I have to take out Barnett and then Stipe (Miocic) and whoever else, fine, that's what I'm here to do."

Miocic is No. 2 in the UFC rankings, ahead of Barnett and Rothwell. He briefly stepped in to replace the injured Velasquez, only to have Werdum drop out as well. A meeting between Miocic and the winner of the Barnett-Rothwell fight would determine who Werdum's No. 1 contender is, maybe even lining the challenger up for an interim title fight should Werdum be out for a prolonged period of time.

"We know it's politics," Rothwell said. "Stipe was promised the one thing, now with the former champ and champ out on injury, Stipe might be looking for a fight, like I said, I believe taking him out, you can't deny me.

"If that's what I have to do, fine, or maybe I go out and history repeats itself and I keep doing my thing in the first round and I put on a performance that I know that I can. Maybe I turn some heads and people say, 'Hey, this guy needs a title shot right now.'"