Jairzinho Rozenstruik is set on making a statement in the heavyweight division.
Rozenstruik On Fighting Australia’s Tai Tuivasa
Exchanging wins and losses in his last 10 fights, the five-time UFC headliner will look to keep his momentum going after a main event win his last time out against Shamil Gaziev in March. Rozenstruik’s slated to return at UFC 305 in Perth, Australia on Aug. 17 (Aug. 18, locally) against no other than fan-favorite knockout artist Tai Tuivasa.
“They’ve been asking me for this fight like a while,” Rozenstruik told Middle Easy’s James Lynch. “Fans were asking for this fight and yeah it will be a good one to watch. Don’t blink.”
Rozenstruik, a KO artist in his own right, has finished all but one of his 14 wins by way of knockout. Alistair Overeem, Junior Dos Santos and Andrei Arlovski are just a few names that “Bigi Boy” has defeated with Rozenstruik signing a new contract with the UFC recently.
Meanwhile, his opponent Tuivasa is on the worst skid of his professional career, losing four in a row to some of the best fighters in the world. It all started with a TKO loss to former interim champ Ciryl Gane, then Sergei Pavlovich and back-to-back submission losses followed for the hard-hitting Australian.
Rozenstruik Plans On A Striking Showcase
As Tuivasa’s nickname might suggest, “Bam Bam” has knockout power as well with 13 knockouts to his name, sharing the exact same finish rate with Rozenstruik at 93%.
So, how exactly does this fight play out between Tuivasa and Rozenstruik? The Suriname-native will try to keep the fight on the feet but isn’t opposed to grappling with Tuivasa, seeing as though that has been his weakness in his last two fights against Alexander Volkov and Marcin Tybura.
“I’m seeing the same thing [striker vs. striker], but this is MMA. I will never take a little bit wrestling out of it, but it can be a fun one,” Rozenstruik continued. “Who lands first? Nice combinations, fast hands, fast kicks….
“So for me, I’m gonna play myself right and and show my skills. I’ve been kickboxing for years before MMA, and now I finally can can show a little bit of that style in front of a big crowd and in front of the whole world and show a couple of nice [kickboxing] combinations, of course.”
Prediction?
Going into the championship rounds in his last TKO win over Shamil Gaziev, Jairzinho Rozenstruik says he won’t need that much time to take out Tai Tuivasa…
“I don’t think so neither,” Rozenstruik said of the fight probably not going the distance. “I knock him out in the first round.”
“I think a win, over time… it’s not gonna put me anywhere. It’s just a statement. It’s gonna be a statement and I think I’ll leave it at that.”
Catch Jairzinho Rozenstruik’s fight against Tai Tuivasa at UFC 305 on Aug. 17, live from Perth, Western Australia.
