Jairzinho Rozenstruik is all for headlining UFC 249 on April 18 opposite Francis Ngannou.
The card was originally set to be headlined by a lightweight title fight between Khabib Nurmagomedov and Tony Ferguson. However, that bout appears to be off with “The Eagle” recently expressing frustration at the lack of a confirmed location for the event while he remains in Russia.
With no main event as of now, unbeaten contender Rozenstruik has offered a solution should UFC 249 still take place amid the coronavirus pandemic — him vs. Ngannou in the headliner for the interim heavyweight title:
“If it’s going to happen, I’m going to be on it for sure,” Rozenstruik told MMA Junkie. “Now, I see the main event is in trouble, so for me it would make it more interesting for me and Francis and also the fans. I mean, I’ve been training for four months, I’m ready to go, so I think they should put the interim belt and make it more interesting because the fans would love to see that.
“The fight between (Daniel Cormier) and Stipe, I don’t know how long that’s going to last. I think with this situation all the fights will be rebooked, so I think people are going to fight twice, maybe once a year. So we don’t know when this situation is going to have a resolution.”
It’s certainly not a bad idea given how most would agree that the winner of the fight should be facing the champion anyway. However, it would still be underwhelming given how fans have been waiting years to see Nurmagomedov vs. Ferguson.
Of course, it all hinges on whether UFC president Dana White is able to find and confirm a location for the April 18 show.
‘They haven’t told us the location, yet,” Rozenstruik added. “But for us we’re still hoping, and we do our best to keep training, so we’d be ready for when they give us the location.”
Do you want to see Rozenstruik vs. Ngannou for the interim heavyweight title?