UFC Quick Quote: UFC 189 brought tears to the eyes of a big, hairy bastard

"When you're sitting ringside, you can't see how daunting a filled arena of just screaming fans is and I literally, I wanted to fight so bad. To be a part of that event, to feel the energy, to feel what I'm fighting for, it did -- I teared in my eye because I was getting so intense. I just could've went and fought anyone Saturday night. Robbie (Lawler) is a guy who, I trained with him for six years at Militech. Watching the resurgence of his career, yeah, I think it's really touching to me, because him and I are described as when old becomes new. ... I kind of feel like I'm the heavyweight version of him. Like, him and I are right now making our names, doing our thing, and he's doing it huge. What is awesome about it is, because of an event like that, I bet you [all the bandwagon fans] start watching everything now. They're going to find out who's who, and they're going to be like, ‘remember that big hairy bastard we ran into?' and they're going to remember me. It is cool, man. That's how we're going to make more fans."

Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) heavyweight contender Ben Rothwell was at the UFC Fan Expo last week in Las Vegas, Nevada, then had an opportunity to sit cageside for the UFC 189: "Mendes vs. McGregor" pay-per-view (PPV) event (so much for not giving a shit), which took place last Saturday night (July 11, 2015) inside MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada (recap here). Based on what "Big" Ben saw during the insane main card (peep some backstage footage here), it was hard not to well up with tears, especially considering how long the No. 7-ranked heavyweight has been competing in mixed martial arts (MMA). Perhaps that's why Rothwell told The MMA Hour he was so amped up on fight night, he could have taken on the world. But perhaps we should start with a contending 265-pounder ... like this one.