A rematch 11 years in the making has been booked for the UFC’s return to the Lone Star State.
After first facing off under the Affliction banner in 2008, Andrei Arlovski and Ben Rothwell have agreed to meet for the second time at UFC on ESPN 4, which takes place July 20 at AT&T Center in San Antonio, Texas. Arlovski won the first meeting via third-round knockout.
ESPN.com first reported the plans.
Rothwell looks to rebound from a March loss to Blagoy Ivanov. That hotly contested result spoiled Rothwell’s return from a two-year suspension issued after testing positive for an “anabolic androgenic steroid of exogenous origin,” though the heavyweight denied knowingly utilizing any performance enhancing drugs.
Meanwhile, Arlovski (27-18 MMA, 16-12 UFC) has officially dropped three consecutive contests, all by decision, in bouts with Augusto Sakai, Shamil Abdurakhimov and Tai Tuivasa. A fourth result against Walt Harris, also a decision loss, was later overturned by the California State Athletic Commission when “The Big Ticket” was flagged for a positive drug test that was later linked to a contaminated supplement.
With the addition to the card, the UFC on ESPN 4 lineup includes:
- Liz Carmouche vs. Roxanne Modafferi
- Walt Harris vs. Aleksei Oleinik
- Irene Aldana vs. Raquel Pennington
- Alex Caceres vs. Steven Peterson
- Klidson Abreu vs. Sam Alvey
- Felipe Colares vs. Domingo Pilarte
- Mario Bautista vs. Jin Soo Son
- Andrei Arlovski vs. Ben Rothwell
For more on UFC on ESPN 4, check out the UFC Rumors section of the site.
