Ben Rothwell says Josh Copeland is in the top-three “best chins” he’s ever fought, eyes title fight against Alan Belcher after BKFC 41: “I’ll see you in the ring and show you the truth”

By Cole Shelton - May 5, 2023

Ben Rothwell is glad he was able to go a couple of rounds at BKFC 41.

Ben Rothwell

Rothwell was supposed to take on Josh Watson after his upset knockout win over Greg Hardy, but unfortunately, that fight never happened. Luckily for Rothwell, Josh Copeland stepped up which he was pleased with as he said it was a more anticipated fight.

“We went back and forth on FaceBook after the fight so I won’t say anything negative,” Rothwell said to BJPENN.com. “It was on him, he was dealing with what he was dealing with, it is what it is. I was looking forward to the fight and I got told literally five minutes before the press conference he was out of the fight. He sent me a message saying there was some miscommunication between him and BFKC, but I was just happy Josh Copeland stepped in.”

Ben Rothwell entered the fight coming off a 19-second knockout win over Bobo O’Bannon (see that here). Although it was a great performance, Rothwell was pleased with this win as he got the corner stoppage after the third round which allowed him to get time in the BKFC ring.

Although Rothwell would like every fight to end in 19 seconds, he believes his BKFC 41 fight was a good learning experience. He also says a big part of that was due to Copeland’s chin which he now rates as in the top-three best chins he’s ever fought.

“In the second round, it hadn’t hit me but in the third round, it really started to hit me like how good his chin is,” Rothwell said. “He is the special group of the best chins ever. The three best chin I fought, and in no order, are Roy Nelson, Mark Hunt, and Josh Copeland. All of them could take a ton of shots which surprised me. Josh’s toughness really helped me figure out a lot of things and really allowed me to know how to fight bare knuckle. I learned so much that you can’t learn in training”

Ben Rothwell, BKFC 41

With Ben Rothwell getting his hand raised, he hopes his next fight is a title fight against Alan Belcher. The former UFC fighter has called him out in the past and Rothwell is glad to humble Belcher and KO him.

“I’m down for the title fight, but it’s not up to me. I made my claim in the promo after, the whole world knows I’m here to fight, especially the champ… Alan has been talking about me but he needs to watch his fight, he had a bunch of holes in his game. Whatever, talk all the shit you want, I’ll see you in the ring and show you the truth,” Rothwell concluded.

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