I guess, sometimes, the UFC might see a cancelled fight as something of a blessing in disguise. Or at least, that's the way it feels with Stipe Miocic vs. Ben Rothwell. Despite Miocic getting injured and pulled from his fight with Rothwell at UFC Fight Night: Holohan vs. Smolka, back in mid-October, he's already got a new fight lined up, and it's not with Ben Rothwell.
Miocic is set to fight Andrei Arlovski at UFC 195 in January of 2016, while a still healthy Ben Rothwell is left sitting on the sidelines, waiting for a new matchup. And to hear Stipe tell it, via MMALatestNews.com, the UFC never even came to him with an offer to re-book his fight against Ben Rothwell:
"I'm not involved in their decision-making process," he said. "My camp notified the UFC that I would be healthy and ready to fight in January against Ben or Andrei. They chose to match me against Andrei and I accepted. My goal is to face the highest ranked fighter available who will help me get a title shot. I would have been fine fighting Ben in January but that fight was not offered to me, Arlovski was. He is ranked higher and we took the fight."
Tough break for Rothwell, who is now looking for fights with Frank Mir or Josh Barnett. Hopefully the UFC will like one of those options better than Rothwell/Miocic.