WASHINGTON – Jairzinho Rozenstruik picked up the biggest win of his career at UFC on ESPN 7 and he’s already got his sights set on a potential next opponent.
As the clock wound down in the fifth round of his main event bout against Alistair Overeem, Rozenstruik (10-0 MMA, 4-0 UFC) landed a huge fight-ending punch. The blow sliced Overeem’s lip open in grotesque fashion.
“First, I got myself beat up and then I knocked him out,” the Surinamese heavyweight told MMA Junkie after the fight. “That’s part of the job. Put in work. He was fighting the fight. He’s so smart to do that. He did it for five rounds.”
Moments after the finishing punch landed, Rozenstruik began celebrating – even before referee Dan Miragliotta waived off the fight. Rozenstruik said he knew Overeem (45-18 MMA, 10-7 UFC) was “really knocked out.”
“I saw he was really knocked out, so I walked away,” Rozenstruik said. “I can be going in like, ‘Boom, boom, boom.’ But I saw (I knocked him out) like right away.”
While the outcome my seem improbable or surprising to outside observers, Rozenstruik doesn’t view it that way. “Bigi Boy” stated a “never give up” mentality has been instilled in him.
“Don’t give up,” Rozenstruik said. “You always have to go through. And that’s what you do in the gym. You don’t train two minutes, you train two hours sometimes. I showed that today. I showed my heart and I showed that I belonged in this division.”
In his post-fight interview with UFC commentator Jon Anik, Rozenstruik called out the man he’s been targeting for weeks, Francis Ngannou. Why Ngannou (14-3 MMA, 9-2 UFC)? Rozenstruik indicated he wants to settle the debate on who the scarier fighter is.
“I like it,” Rozenstruik said. “If he accepts, then I’m excited about it. So I’m going to see him soon. I think it’s going to be a really good fight. He’s strong. He’s big. Even if you look at him, you’re like, ‘You’re big. You’re scary.’ But we have to do it. You know what I mean?”
UFC on ESPN 7 took place Saturday at Capital One Arena in Washington, D.C. The main card aired on ESPN following prelims on ESPN and early prelims on UFC Fight Pass/ESPN+.
Check out Jairzinho Rozenstruik’s full post-fight media scrum in the video above.
