At UFC on ESPN 7, undefeated Jairzinho Rozenstruik knocked out MMA legend Alistair Overeem, improving to 10-0. A quality night of work in the octagon not sufficient alone, he’s already called out the other heavy-hitter in the division Francis Ngannou. A dream matchup for fight fans.
Rozenstruik has had an incredible year. His run in the UFC has seen him go 4-0, all four victories via knockout. One of them, versus Allen Crowder, is the fastest KO in UFC heavyweight history. Against Overeem, in a fight he was losing, he eventually got it done with only four seconds left.
Jairzinho was getting outstruck and taken down multiple times. Overeem was using a tight guard to successfully avoid any hard blows from getting through. And was either taking the younger fighter down or pushing him up against the fence to tire him out. However, the strategy sort of backfired. And it was Overeem that was wearing out and whose face was bruised and beaten by the end of the bout. Just enough jabs landed, some leg kicks compounding with each blow, and a variety of hard body shots simply added up against him.
Alistair was worn out going into the fifth round but merely had to survive to the final bell as, again, Jairzinho was down on the scorecards. With 10 seconds left, Jairzinho made his move and lunged forward with a hard left followed by a right hook that blew Overeem’s face apart, detaching his upper lip.
Some have already called the late fifth-round stoppage controversial. Rozenstruik knocked down Overeem and then walked away. As Alistair was getting back to his feet, the ref stepped in. At first glance, it seemed premature. But I remember Overeem knocking down Junior dos Santos several years ago and as JDS was attempting to get back to his feet, the fight was called off. So it isn’t as if it’s unprecedented. Plus, rewatching the KO multiple times, it looks like Overeem was, in fact, out.
Rozenstruik could have unloaded on the down opponent but instead chose to walk away. For Overeem, to his credit, he was able to pop right back up. But then stumbled toward his corner, obviously unsure of his surroundings. Clearly out on his feet, and that’s what caused referee Dan Miragliotta to intervene.
So it was a good stoppage. And deservedly should be a KO victory for Rozenstriuk with four seconds left in the fifth round of the 25-minute contest.
Not that anyone doubted Rozenstruik’s power, but to be able to explode that late in the fifth round was impressive. That’s the old adage about heavyweights, it only takes one punch. These guys are too big and too strong to play around. Overeem thought he had it in the bag and got careless, then got caught.
Rozenstruik should have moved forward more often, thrown more combinations, and avoided the takedowns. Yet, there are many positive takeaways. Obviously, the most important one is knowing now that his power carries into later rounds. Add to that the fact that Jairzinho got more octagon time. This fight alone being longer than his other three combined by a long shot.
One of Rozenstruik’s glaring weaknesses is grappling. He relies almost exclusively on his power punches. And when he does find himself on his back, Jairzinho tends to mostly just hold and avoid damage. Yet, over the course of the fight, the Suriname kickboxer started stuffing takedown attempts and breaking loose from the clinch.
So there’s a lot of growth and experience gained from this contest. Plus, he hung with a veteran who has 60 MMA fights on his record. As stated in his post-fight interview, Rozenstruik proved he’s on this level. A new contender has emerged in the heavyweight division, probably only one win away from a shot at gold.
Rozentruik is ready for a guy like Francis Ngannou. In fact, he may have even chosen to take his time against Overeem, having learned from Nganou’s earlier mistakes. Just a couple years ago, Francis was knocking everyone out on his rise to a title fight. But against Stipe Miocic, for the heavyweight crown, he was taken down at will and out grappled for five rounds, losing a one-sided decision. Ngannou’s power seemed to fade rather quickly. And his limited wrestling pedigree certainly showed. The lack of success and being dragged into later rounds started discouraging the Cameroonian knockout artist from even throwing strikes.
Here, it looked like Rozenstruik wanted to test himself and knew he could turn it on whenever he needed to. With 10 seconds left, he just flipped the switch, moved forward, threw some leaping powerful hooks, and that was all she wrote. And if that is true, that this was in essence on purpose, damn is this guy scary.
However, when Jairzinho does face Ngannou, he can’t just eat shots like he did against Overeem. I know Alistair doesn’t have the singular KO power of Francis, but he is a former K-1 champion. The man can still throw heavy hands. And even though Rozenstruik rolled with them and partially blocked some, he still took far too many clean hits to the head by a past his prime Overeem. Ngannou will make him pay if he’s that sloppy in their bout.
Meanwhile, for Overeem, it just seems he got to the UFC a little too late in his career. The fact that he’s a long striker with high-level grappling has always made him unique; one of the rare heavyweights that could give anyone problems anywhere the fight went. He last got his shot at the title against Stipe Miocic in 2016. Again a fight he was winning but was ultimately finished in. Including that fight, he’s 4-4 in his last eight. There are plenty of good opponents he can still face going forward, and many he can still beat. But his chances of obtaining UFC gold seems ever less likely.
Rozenstruik is now the new contender in the division. Overeem was ranked number six among heavyweights. Francis Ngannou is listed as number three behind only the champ, Stipe Miocic, and former champion Daniel Cormier. After those two go at it a third time, win or lose, Cormier said he will retire. So Rozenstruik facing Ngannou, who is on a currently on a three-fight, three knockout-run himself, is, in essence, a title eliminator. If Jairzinho can defeat Francis, in just five fights, he should be getting a title shot.
This has been an incredible run for the undefeated fighter. With only three weeks left in 2019 –along with guys like BMF winner Jorge Masvidal and new undefeated middleweight champion Israel Adesanya– Jairzinho Rozenstruik is arguably having the best year in the UFC. With a bright future ahead of him.
I know his nickname is supposed to be “Bigi Boy,” but let’s just start calling him Rozen-STRIKE!
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