By the Numbers: Ben Rothwell vs. Stefan Struve

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After hinting at retirement following his recent win over Marcos Rogerio de Lima, Stefan Struve will be back in the Octagon to face fellow veteran Ben Rothwell, who is looking to snap a three-fight skid. The two big heavyweights will lock horns on Dec. 7 at the Capitol One Arena in Washington, D.C., for UFC on ESPN 7. Here is a numerical breakdown of their upcoming matchup.

Age, height and arm reach

At 38 years old, Rothwell is seven years older than Struve. The Dutch heavyweight towers over everyone in the Ultimate Fighting Championship at seven feet, but Rothwell at 6-foot-4 is an imposing figure himself. Naturally, though, Struve has the longer reach of 84.5 inches to Rothwell’s 78.5.

Wins by knockout

Struve owns eight victories via KO or TKO, with victims that include the likes of Antonio “Bigfoot” Silva and Dave Herman. His most notable knockout win, however, came in the main event of UFC on Fuel TV 5 when he stopped future heavyweight champion Stipe Miocic. In the first round, Miocic was getting the better of Struve on the feet, but then Struve stepped on the gas in Round 2, utilized his reach advantage more effectively and ultimately poured on enough offense to put Miocic away. Seven fights later, Miocic won the UFC heavyweight title.

Owner of some of the heaviest hands in the division, Rothwell carries a total of 27 wins by KO or TKO. Most of those knockouts happened before his stint in the UFC, although he has starched some Octagon notables such as Alistair Overeem, Brandon Vera and Brendan Schaub.

Wins by submission

Struve makes good use of his long limbs, as well as his Brazilian jiu-jitsu brown belt, as evidenced by his 18 submission victories. In the UFC, Struve has managed to tap Marcos Rogerio de Lima, Daniel Omielanczuk, Lavar Johnson, Pat Barry, Chase Gormley and Denis Stojnic.

Rothwell has snagged a bunch of submissions of his own. He now has six overall, which includes back-to-back submission finishes of Matt Mitrione and former UFC heavyweight champion Josh Barnett.

First-round finishes

Struve holds 16 stoppages inside the first round. Rothwell, on the other hand, has 28. From September 2005 to December 2006, the pride of Kenosha, Wisconsin, was able to score eight consecutive first-round finishes. In the course of that run, Rothwell stopped UFC and Pride veteran Dan Bobish and future UFC standout Krzysztof Soszynski. Struve, on the other hand, holds 16 first-round finishes, most notably his 16-second stoppage of Bigfoot at UFC Fight Night 87.

Losses via stoppage

Of Struve’s 11 career defeats, eight have been via stoppage. He was knocked out by Alexander Volkov, Alistair Overeem, Mark Hunt, Travis Browne, Roy Nelson, Junior dos Santos and Romualds Garkulis and was tapped out by Christian M'Pumbu. Meanwhile, Rothwell has only been stopped six times in his career. He was starched by Cain Velasquez, Andrei Arlovski, Carlos Barreto and Ibragim Magomedov and was submitted by Gabriel Gonzaga and Dan Christison.