Ben Rothwell released by UFC in shock move before Alexander Gustafsson bout

The UFC has released Ben Rothwell just weeks before he was scheduled to return to the cage to fight Alexander Gustafsson.

Throughout the course of his tenure with the Ultimate Fighting Championship, which has lasted for 13 years since his debut against Cain Velasquez in 2009, Ben Rothwell has been on quite the journey.

From years-long absences to securing finishes over big names in the sport, the 40-year-old has been there and done it all. He was the kind of heavyweight the UFC could rely on to show up when needed and now, as confirmed by MMA Fighting, his time with the promotion has come to an end.

His last outing in the cage took place in November when he was finished by Marcos Rogério de Lima within 32 seconds of the fight getting underway, marking his first TKO loss since the Cain fight.

However, as previously noted, the most surprising element of this release is that he had been set to get back in there in just a matter of weeks.

Rothwell was due to fight Alexander Gustafsson in a heavyweight contest on May 21. It would mark the second fight in the division for Gustafsson following his submission loss to Fabricio Werdum back in July 2020.

Rothwell, meanwhile, would’ve been going after his 40th professional win in mixed martial arts.

Unfortunately it doesn’t appear as if that’s going to happen but as of this writing, there are still no further details regarding why this release has been made or if Gustafsson is going to get a replacement opponent.

‘Big Ben’ did take to social media in order to thank his fans for their support and asked that they “stay tuned” to hear what’s next for him, whatever that may be.

The fact that he’s 40 years of age could easily mean he’s contemplating retirement but in a division like