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USA Today Sports Media Group
USA Today Sports Media Group
Sport
Farah Hannoun

UFC 252 free fight: Jairzinho Rozenstruik starches Junior Albini in promotional debut

Jairzinho Rozenstruik is not one to leave things in the hands of the judges.

Rozenstruik (10-1 MMA, 4-1 UFC) made his promotional debut at UFC on ESPN+ 2 in February 2019 when he faced Junior Albini in enemy territory.

Albini took the fight to the mat with an early takedown on the experienced kickboxer and was able to control Rozenstruik by advancing positions and attempting submissions, but Rozenstruik hung tough. Rozenstruik momentarily made his way back up, but was taken down once again.

This time Albini took Rozenstruik’s back, but “Bigi Boy” defended well and eventually reversed position on the Brazilian before eventually bringing the fight back into his realm by getting back to his feet.

After Rozenstruik turned up the power in Round 2 and blasted Albini with a four-piece combination, finishing with a head kick, that sent Albini to the canvas for a spectacular win.

Rozenstruik went on to stop his next three opponents, including a comeback knockout of Alistair Overeem last December. But, in his last outing, Rozenstruik suffered his first career blemish in a knockout loss to Francis Ngannou at UFC 249.

Rozenstruik returns on Aug. 15 when he meets former UFC heavyweight champion Junior Dos Santos (21-7 MMA, 15-6 UFC) at UFC 252, which takes place Saturday at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas. The main card airs on pay-per-view following prelims on ESPN/ESPN+.

Before he faces Dos Santos, relive Rozenstruik’s finish of Albini in the video above.

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