Jairzinho Rozenstruik promises to come back better than ever after coming up short against rising heavyweight contender Jailton Almeida on Saturday.
‘Bigi Boy’ has had a tough time staying in the win column, dropping five of his last eight bouts inside the Octagon. Much of that has been attributed to his lack of wrestling and takedown defense inside the Octagon. It was for those reasons that Rozenstruik entered his UFC Charlotte return as a 4-to-1 underdog against the grapple-heavy Brazilian Jailton Almeida.
As expected, it didn’t take long for Almeida to get Rozenstruik on his back. Once there, ‘Malhadinho’ immediately went to work en route to a first-round rear-naked choke submission. The victory will likely put Almeida in the heavyweight top ten while Rozenstruik will once again go back to the drawing board as he slips even further away from a potential UFC heavyweight title opportunity. Following his defeat, ‘Bigi Boy’ took to Twitter and thanked his fans for their support while promising to come back even better the next time he steps inside the Octagon.
“What’s up, guys? As you see the fight didn’t go my way,” Rozenstruik said. “I think one or two mistakes cost me the whole fight. I felt like I was doing everything right and yeah… Anyways, I’ll be better. I’ll be back better and stronger and I want to say thank you guys for supporting me in every kind of way.”
Success is not final, failure is not fatal; it's the courage to continue that counts. #BigiBoy #UFCCharlotte pic.twitter.com/ccnslYyEUK
— Jairzinho 'BIGI BOY' Rozenstruik (@JairRozenstruik) May 13, 2023
Jarizinho Rozenstruik dropped to 7-5 under the UFC banner and 13-5 overall. Rozenstruik scored four-straight knockouts upon entering the promotion in 2019, defeating Junior Albini, Allen Crowder, Andrei Arlovski, and Alistair Overeem. Since then, he has alternated wins and losses. Prior to his loss on Saturday, Rozenstruik was the 9th-ranked heavyweight in the division.
With the first-round finish, Jailton Almeida continued his undefeated run in the UFC, earning his fifth-straight victory, all of which have come by way of finish with three submissions and two via knockout. Following his 19th career win, Almeida suggested that a UFC title fight would be part of his 2024 plans. If ‘Malhadinho’ gets his wish, the next stepping stone toward that goal will be a clash with fan-favorite heavyweight contender Tai Tuivasa.
