"I embrace the challenge. They offered me the opportunity to be a co-main event against Cain, who’s established himself in the UFC, and I was all for it. I feel like I’ve been paying my dues for a long time, and this is my time.... I’ve been doing this for ten years, and all along, it’s always been about being in the UFC. In ten years, I really feel like I’ve had no accomplishments. It sounds like I’ve done some things, but to me, it’s all been training to come here to the UFC. I know it’s gonna be a great fight because I have a tough opponent like Cain, but I’m gonna show you what you all came to see."
-- Former International Fight League (IFL) heavyweight standout "Big" Ben Rothwell talks today at the UFC 104: "Machida vs. Shogun" press conference about what it means to him to finally make it to the mixed martial arts big league. Rothwell is set to take on undefeated blue chip prospect, Cain Velaquez, in his Octagon debut at the Staples Center in Los Angeles, Calif., on Oct. 24. The importance of making a solid impression in a tough first fight is clearly not lost on the Miletich Fighting Systems (MFS) product, who has 36 professional fights in a career that dates back to 2001. He has just one loss in his last 15 fights, which was courtesy of an Andrei Arlovski knockout at Affliction: "Banned" in July 2008. He has competed just once since that time -- a submission win (verbal) over Chris Guillen later that year. Now 10 months later he has to knock off the rust and take on one of the most relentless and well-conditioned athletes in the division. Can he handle the torrid pace that Velasquez will likely set or will it be just too much too soon?