Ben Rothwell thinks brain damage might be triggering Alistair Overeem's trash talk

Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) heavyweight Alistair Overeem was laid out by Ben Rothwell in the UFC Fight Night 50 mixed martial arts (MMA) event last September on FOX Sports 1. The official ruling was a mistake technical knockout (punches).

But Overeem wasn't knocked out.

In fact, he wasn't even hurt and took no damage. If and when they ever fight again, "Demolition Man" is confident he walks away with the victory "nine out of 10 times," despite the fact that he's 2-3 under the UFC banner with three knockout losses.

Rothwell told MMA Hour that Overeem has been taking too many shots to the dome.

"He posts that, and I didn't even have to say a word because it seemed like all the forums and media took care of it for me. The general consensus was that this guy had brain damage. I think he's getting hit in the head too many times to make that comment. If I was his coach or I was his teammate, I'd be like: ‘Dude, shut up. Stay out of media. You're going into a fight that you cannot lose against a guy who could beat you, and you're talking trash about a guy who just beat you. This makes no sense.' Him talking trash on me right now while he's going into a fight against Stefan Struve is only going to hurt him. I don't know what he's trying to do, because every time he talks all trash against Travis Browne and Bigfoot Silva, it has not turned out well for him. And he's doing it again."

Will history repeat itself?

Assuming Stefan Struve shows up for this fight, he'll have the opportunity to put Overeem on the unemployment line following their heavyweight throwdown at the UFC on FOX 13 event, scheduled for Dec. 13, 2014 inside the U.S. Airways Center in Phoenix, Arizona.

So what's the verdict here, fight fans ... brain damage, or diarrhea of the mouth?