Remember the W: Jairzinho Rozenstruik’s late finish over Alistar Overeem

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Jairzinho “Bigi Boy” Rozenstruik is looking noticeably calm in the face of cameras and journalists at the media day before his up-coming clash against Sergei Pavlovich.

“I don’t feel any pressure; feel great.”

With this simple quote, Jairzinho may have just summarized his overall attitude towards fighting. And really, with over a hundred bouts across his kickboxing and MMA careers, why would Jairzinho Rozenstruik be nervous about competing another time?

The man standing in front of him never seems to affect the Surinamese’s relaxed approach, nor does the place in which he is fighting.

In his first Octagon appearance, Jairzinho faced Junior Albini in Brazil. Fighting a Brazilian in his home country on short notice is less than ideal for your debut. To hear the notorious “Uh vai morrer” chant before you enter the cage and then just patiently wait for your opponent to walk out while every fan at the arena shows massive support towards them, might mess with you mentally. Wasn’t the case for Rozenstruik.

“I muted the audience who were chanting, ‘You’re gonna die’ and focused entirely on the guidance of my teammates,” he shared later with UFC’s Spencer Kyte. Jairzinho got the finish victory after a rocky start to this bout, which is just another proof of his unshakable confidence.

Since then, he has only got more experienced, as he built an elite resume over the years in the World’s best MMA promotion. Bigi Boy has shared the Octagon with the likes of Alistar Overeem, Francis Ngannou, Junior Dos Santos, Cyril Gane, Curtis Blaydes, Alexander Volkov, Jailton Almeida and more.

His victory over Alistar Overeem was a come-from-behind knockout deep into the fifth and final round. May I mention, just two fights before Overeem battered Sergei Pavlovich on the ground to secure a first-round victory over the Russian.

So, while waiting for Rozenstruik vs. Pavlovich, let’s rewatch this scrap from 2019.

The night of the fight

After feeling some of the Rozenstruik’s kick power, Overeem decides to take the fight to the ground – where he started to feel way more comfortable by that stage of his career – two minutes into the bout. The round went by with Overeem on top throwing some shots, all while Jairzinho doesn’t seem to care enough about the unfavourable position to try and get up.

Alistar enters the clinch right away in the second round, as the fighters proceed to exchange some knees and elbows until Dan Miragliotta breaks them. Overeem covers up completely every time Bigi Boy slightly moves. Rozenstruik ends the five minutes having landed a few boxing combos on his counterpart.

At the start of the third, the Dutchman squashes Jairzinho against the cage in the hopes to find that takedown, yet fails to. Overeem finds a couple of accurate straight shots, while Bigi Boy is looking for power punches. They exchange kicks, and Rozenstruik starts to look for a knee to maybe time the takedown entry of the veteran. Despite that, Overeem clinches against the fence, from where he executes a textbook bodylock takedown. The Dutchman controls his opponent until the end of the round.

Round four is looking to be the best so far for Rozenstruik, as he doesn’t let the veteran take him down and pieces him up at moments.

Both men look tired in the fifth round. Overeem swings big here and there with an overhand left, but doesn’t find the target. Yet again, Alistar isn’t able to execute his takedowns. Rozenstruik isn’t looking for anything big until the very last minute, when he starts with a flying knee and doesn’t let go of his opponent to knock him out with four seconds to go in a fight. In addition to the KO, the Suriname also gives Overeem one of the worst cuts in UFC history.

Jairzinho’s career since

After this dramatic night, Bigi Boy went on to fight ten more times, winning five and losing five. It seems, every time the level of competition rises, Rozenstruik fails to perform accordingly. But now, coming off two victories in a row for the first time in more than five years, it looks like the bout on February 1st is going to be a make-or-break for Jairzinho. Rozenstruik believes, potential win over Sergei Pavlovich “definitely” puts him top five.