Rothwell was born in October 17, 1981 in Kenosha, Wisconsin of United States. He grew up in the same town. He was not a healthy kid during his childhood. He suffered from spinal meningitis when he was 6 years old. He also had a car accident when he was still a teen. His life took a U-turn after he recovered from that accident. Rothwell started learning fighting since his high school.
Rothwell started his training from September 1999. He joined Miletich Fighting Systems in 2002. He was trained by Thiago Veiga and Luiz Claudio. He made his professional debut in 2001 in Winconsin where he won by technical knockout. Rothwell faced future Heavyweight Champion Tim Sylvia in his fifth professional fight of his career. He lost that match and then won his next seven fights. Rothwell made his debut for International Fighting League in 2006 against Krzysztof Soszynski where he knocked down Soszynski and won the fight. He then went on to fight several renowned fighters such as Roy Nelson, Travis Fulton and Soszynski. His last fight in the IFl was against Ricco Rodriguez, where Rothwell was victorious. He had a 9-0 record during his time in the IFL. He left IFL to join Affliction where he fought only once in a fight against Andrei Arlovski, where Rothwell lost the fight. In the year 2009, he ended his short spell with Affliction and joined UFC (Ultimate Fighting Championship). He made his debut on October 24, 2009, where he lost against Cain Velasquez. Rothwell fought Gilbert Yvel on June 15, 2010 at UFC 115 and won the fight. Rothwell faced Brendan Schaub on April, 2012 and Brandon Vera on August 31, 2013 and won both of those fights. He faced Alistair Overeem on September 5, 2014 at UFC Night 50 and won the fight. He then faced Matt Mitrione on June 6, 2015 at UFC Fight Night 68 and won via submission.
Rothwell is a married man and doesn't have any girlfriend as of now. However, he has a daughter. He and his wife own a martial art teaching institution named Rothwell Mixed Martial Arts, that teaches MMA, boxing, kickboxing, Muay Thai, Brazilian jiu-jitsu, wrestling, self-defense, yoga, and fitness to children and adults. Rothwell himself is a Purple belt in Brazilian jiu-jitsu. Currently, the relation between him and his wife is going well and fine, so the chance of them is getting divorced is very low.
Rothwell is a renowned UFC heavy weight who has won Knockout of the night (1 time), Performance of the night (1 time) and USMMA Heavyweight Championship (1 time). He is a fighter with good physique; height of 6ft 4 inches and weight of 120 kg. Due to his giant physique, he is given the nickname; Big Ben. Rothwell has total 35 wins in his name, out of 44. His current annual salary is almost $709,000 and net worth is about $2,481,500.
