Striking aces, Alistair ‘The Demolition Man’ Overeem, and Jairzinho ‘Bigi Boy’ Rozenstruik are both conceivably at least a win away from challenging for undisputed UFC heavyweight gold – and with all things considered given the current lie of the land in the division, they may be forced to go through each other for a second time following their initial meeting last December.
The kickboxing aces headlined a UFC Fight Night D.C. event toward the end of last year, with Overeem largely dominating the Suriname native over five-rounds, prior to a buzzer-beating, ‘hail mary’ overhand from Rozenstruik – resulting in a stoppage. Overeem stumbled back to the Octagon fence, with a massive cut on his lip opened, which required plastic surgery afterwards to repair – with Dan Miragliotta calling a halt to proceedings with four seconds left on the clock.
Overeem saw the snapping of a two-fight rise with the contentious stoppage loss, while Rozenstruik would earn a matchup with Cameroonian devastator, Francis Ngannou – himself dropping a twenty-second knockout. Since then, Overeem has rebounded with rallying stoppages over both Walt Harris, and last weekend, Augusto Sakai.
Rozenstruik has himself managed to take a win in his most recent outing since his loss to common opposition, Ngannou – stopping former world champion, Junior dos Santos in the second round at UFC 252 on August 15th. With Rozenstruik sitting at #3 in the official pile, and Overeem at #5 – a rematch between the two could be on the cards, with the latter firm on a score that requires settling.
“Yes, definitely,” Overeem said during a recent interview with ESPN MMA reporter, Ariel Helwani – when asked if a rematch with Rozenstruik is something he’s interested in. “I mean I still have a score to settle, right? He stole something from me. He snuck away with the victory. I mean I schooled the man. He knows it, everybody knows it, the whole world knows it. But somehow he still has the W (win). So we definitely have some score to settle.” (H/T BJPENN.com)
As well as a potential re-run with knockout artist, Rozenstruik – former Dream, K-1 Grand Prix, and Strikeforce heavyweight best, Overeem has voiced his interest in a potential matchup with fan-favourite finisher, Derrick Lewis – who tackles Overeem’s Elevation Fight Team teammate, Curtis Blaydes on November 28th. – taking headlining honours.