UFC Fight Night 189 is days away and it features a main event matchup between two of the promotion’s largest athletes.
The event takes place Saturday at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas. The card streams on ESPN+.
Despite recent losses by both men, “the dream is still the same,” as one-half of the heavyweight headliner, Jairzinho Rozenstruik put it in a recent promotional video ahead of his fight against Augusto Sakai.
Rozenstruik (11-2 MMA, 5-2 UFC), who represents Suriname, has lost two of his most recent three outings, but the defeats came against top-tier talent in current UFC heavyweight champion Francis Ngannou and top contender Ciryl Gane. The losses bookend a TKO win over Junior Dos Santos in August.
Meanwhile, Sakai (15-2-1 MMA, 4-1 UFC) lost for the first time in four years, when he was defeated by Alistair Overeem at UFC Fight Night 176 in September. Prior to that fight, Sakai defeated Blagoy Ivanov, Marcin Tybura, Andrei Arlovski, and Chase Sherman to kick off his promotional tenure.
The UFC Fight Night 189 lineup includes:
MAIN CARD (ESPN+, 7 p.m. ET)
- Jairzinho Rozenstruik vs. Augusto Sakai
- Walt Harris vs. Marcin Tybura
- Roman Dolidze vs. Laureano Staropoli
- Miguel Baeza vs. Santiago Ponzinibbio
- Gregory Rodrigues vs. Dusko Todorovic
- Antonio Arroyo vs. Tom Breese
PRELIMINARY CARD (ESPN+, 4 p.m. ET)
- Makwan Amirkhani vs. Kamuela Kirk
- Montana De La Rosa vs. Ariane Lipski
- Tanner Boser vs. Ilir Latifi
- Muslim Salikhov vs. Francisco Trinaldo
- Mason Jones vs. Alan Patrick
- Manon Fiorot vs. Maryna Moroz
- Sean Woodson vs. Youssef Zalal
- Jordan Leavitt vs. Claudio Puelles
