Ben Rothwell recorded his 37th win tonight at UFC DC, but his victory over Stefan Struve was tainted by a couple of low blows the latter took.

Round one

Struve planted several leg kicks early on into the fight and Rothwell flurried in. Struve landed more leg kicks as Rothwell moved forward. Rothwell clinched up and Struve attempted to counter with a trip. Moments later, Struve grazed Rothwell with a head kick, but the latter fired back with a kick that hit Sruve low. Struve immediately went to the deck writhing in pain.

Struve needed to take nearly the entire five minutes to recover, but the fight did resume. Struve continued to fire a steady stream of kicks but Rothwell kept moving forward before the round ended.

Round two

Rothwell continued to move forward in round two and Struve countered with knees and kicks. Struve punished Rothwell’s legs with more kicks, but surprisingly, his mobility didn’t seem to be compromised much. Moments later, Rothwell kicked Struve low again, and the heavyweight collapsed once again. Rothwell was a deducted a point and the fight continued.

Rothwell came out firing huge punches and in doing so, he tagged Struve. Just before the round ended, Rothwell checked a leg kick attempt that clearly hurt Struve. Rothwell followed up with a vicious series of punches that forced Struve to cover up, and after several more shots, the fight was called. Wow.

After the bout, Rothwell credited Struve for continuing to fight through the low blows.

UFC DC results

Here are the results so far for UFC DC, which is being hosted by the Capital One Arena.

Ben Rothwell def. Stefan Struve via TKO (punches) R2, 4:57

Aspen Ladd def. Yana Kunitskaya via TKO (punches) R3, 0:33

Cody Stamann vs. Song Yadong declared a majority draw (29-27, 28-28, 28-28)

Rob Font def. Ricky Simon via unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 30-27)

Tim Means def. Thiago Alves via submission (guillotine choke) R1, 2:38

Billy Quarantillo def. Jacob Kilburn via submission (triangle-choke) R2, 3:18

Bryce Mitchell def. Matt Sayles via submission (twister) R1, 4:20

Joe Solecki def. Matt Wiman via unanimous decision (30-26, 30-26, 30-27)

Virna Jandiroba def. Mallory Martin via submission (rear-naked-choke) R2 1:16

Makhmud Muradov def. Trevor Smith via KO (punch) R3, 4:09

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