Ben Rothwell made a hefty statement for himself this past September when he dispatched Alistair Overeem in less than three minutes at UFC Fight Night 50. Now ranked among the UFC's top 10 heavyweights, Rothwell overcame longshot odds and a year-long layoff to level Overeem with a right hand early in bout's the opening frame, and similar to Overeem's previous foes, Rothwell attributes much of his success to being fueled by the Dutchman's reckless mouth.

"I always say, hey, it's probably best to be quiet when you're fighting me, because the second you start going to the media, if you're going to try to McGregor me, so to speak, it's better for me because I make it personal. And when I make it personal, I fight my best," Rothwell said on Monday's edition of The MMA Hour.

"I just went into my training camp with a chip on my shoulder. Like, really dude? That's what I was thinking in my head. I knew what I was going to do, and it just kept building up, watching the media hang all over him, take me out of it.

"Right up until the week of the fight, more stuff was getting hit all over the media with talking him up and how he's going to fight. He was already calling out other guys, stuff like that, and I'm just like... really? You've got me in front of you and you're going to call out other people? Alright, we're going to see how this is going to work out for you."

The outcome -- a first-round TKO win for Rothwell -- only exacerbated what has been a surprising and unforgiving career tailspin for Overeem, with three of his last four outings ending in ruthless, highlight-reel knockouts losses.

Overeem now hopes to right his ship on Dec. 13 against Stefan Struve at UFC on FOX 13, however Rothwell admits he was stunned to hear "The Reem" continue to diminish him even in defeat, as Overeem recently stated a belief that he'd beat Rothwell "nine out of 10 times."

"He posts that, and I didn't even have to say a word because it seemed like all the forums and media took care of it for me," Rothwell said. "The general consensus was that this guy had brain damage. I think he's getting hit in the head too many times to make that comment.

"If I was his coach or I was his teammate, I'd be like: ‘Dude, shut up. Stay out of media. You're going into a fight that you cannot lose against a guy who could beat you, and you're talking trash about a guy who just beat you. This makes no sense.' Him talking trash on me right now while he's going into a fight against Stefan Struve is only going to hurt him. I don't know what he's trying to do, because every time he talks all trash against Travis Browne and Bigfoot Silva, it has not turned out well for him. And he's doing it again."