Saint Preux Meets Rothwell In Heavyweight Debut
Ovince Saint Preux will be making his heavyweight debut next month.
The former light heavyweight title challenger will be moving up to face Ben Rothwell on the May 13 event set to take place in Jacksonville, Florida. The fight is not finalized yet but is expected to be announced soon. ESPN’s Ariel Helwani was the first to report the matchup.
Ion Cutelaba can’t re-enter the country, I’m told, so one fight that they are looking to add to that new May 13 card is OSP vs Rothwell at heavyweight.
Ion Cutelaba can’t re-enter the country, I’m told, so one fight that they are looking to add to that new May 13 card is OSP vs Rothwell at heavyweight.
— Ariel Helwani (@arielhelwani) April 24, 2020
Saint Preux is coming off a signature Von Flue submission victory over Michał Oleksiejczuk in September last year. But with two wins in his last five outings in the division, “OSP” appears to be looking for a change in fortunes at heavyweight. Rothwell, meanwhile, snapped a three-fight losing streak with a controversial TKO win over Stefan Struve in December.
The May 13 event has no name but is expected to be headlined by a light heavyweight tilt between former title challengers Anthony Smith and Glover Teixeira. This is how the card looks as of now:
- Anthony Smith vs. Glover Teixeira
- Ben Rothwell vs. Ovince Saint Preux
Like UFC 249, it will also take place at VyStar Veterans Memorial Arena and is one of three events taking place in the second week of May. More fights are expected to be announced soon.