Photo by Mike Roach/Zuffa LLC
Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) 265-pound title contender Jairzinho Rozenstruik was clobbered by power-punching heavyweight smashing machine Francis Ngannou at the UFC 249 pay-per-view (PPV) event last May in Las Vegas.
That would make any talk about the division strap a bit premature; however, “Bigi Boy” is still 10-1 as a pro and can just as easily get himself back into the title hunt by smashing former heavyweight champion Junior dos Santos this weekend in “Sin City.”
“Dos Santos does a lot for the sport, still a dangerous fight,” Rozenstruik told MMA Junkie. “If I beat him I’m right there. The championship fight is happening the same day and Francis is next after that. For me, I’m looking for a win. I need it. I have something I’m looking to set straight for myself and I’m just going to go in there and do what I do best.”
Jairzinho, 32, already holds one victory over a former UFC heavyweight champion (Andrei Arlovski) and put the rest of the division on notice by stopping ex-Strikeforce 265-pound titleholder Alistair Overeem at UFC on ESPN 7 last December.
What kind of performance he turns in against Dos Santos on the UFC 252 PPV main card will tell us a lot about where “Bigi Boy” stands in the heavyweight title picture, though “Cigano” has his own plans regarding the future of the division.
For the rest of the UFC 252 fight card and line up click here.