Since Connor McGregor first stormed the world of UFC, brutal fights have become the norm; something that was seen over the weekend in the Overeem vs. Rozenstruik fight.
Alistair Overeem was said to just be ‘seconds away’ from winning the fight when his 17st 8lb opponent, Jairzinho Rozenstruik, came through with an explosive (literally) blow to Overeem’s face.
Rozenstruik landed the savage right hook to Overeem’s face, knocking the fighter to the ground as well as splitting his lip from the rest of his face.
Despite getting back up from the devastating hit and actually being 4-0 points up against Rozenstruik, the referee decided to call an end to the fight in the fourth minute and 56th second of the fifth round, making the fight the third-latest finish in UFC history.
The 6ft4 fighter has since taken to Twitter saying:
Getting stitched up. Lip not too sexy at the moment.. a little bit a fast stoppage if u ask me – but hope u guys enjoyed the fight.
However, Rozenstruik thought differently about the fight being stopped too soon, saying Overeem was ‘really knocked out’ and that’s why Rozenstruik walked away rather than continuing to hit him.
In the ESPN UFC coverage of the fight, you see Overeem’s lip detach from his face and exposing his teeth as the 39-year-old falls back onto the mesh.
Check out the brutal knockout in the video below:
Since Jairzinho Rozenstruik’s UFC debut in February 2019, he’s gone undefeated in his four fights, compared to UFC veteran Alistair Overeem’s track record of winning 10 of his fights since his debut back in 2011.
The Suriname-born fighter now holds the longest active UFC win streak in the heavyweight division with his fourth consecutive win.
UFC Canada tweeted Rozenstruik now also holds the second-fastest KO in UFC heavyweight history.
In an interview after the fight, Rozenstruik explained how he wants to return to the ring in March/April time and even called out his next opponent.
He said:
I want to be back in like, March/April, and I really want to fight this big, scary guy, Francis Ngannou. So if you hear this right now, I hope you accept this fight and, man, let’s give these people a really good show.
Ngannou has since replied over Twitter, saying:
I heard you babayga. You made yourself very clear tonight. Congrats on the come back by the way. #uncrowndedchamp [sic]
2020 is expected to be big a year for Rozenstruik, with UFC Canada describing him as the ‘real deal’.
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Niamh Shackleton is a pint sized person and journalist at UNILAD. After studying Multimedia Journalism at the University of Salford, she did a year at Caters News Agency as a features writer in Birmingham before deciding that Manchester is (arguably) one of the best places in the world, and therefore moved back up north. She’s also UNILAD’s unofficial crazy animal lady.