On Thursday, Rozenstruik took to social media to address the UFCâs decision and reflect on his underwhelming performance. Interestingly, he partially attributed his struggles to the locker room’s paint fumes, claiming they left him feeling dizzy before the fight.
“I came to Riyadh to win and pull off the upset. After a strong fight week, I felt dizzy on Saturday due to the paint fumes. Then, just 70 seconds into the fight, I injured my left foot. The moment my switch kick landed on his elbow, I felt it instantly and knew the fight would play out differently than planned.
“At the end of 2018, I signed my first contract with the @ufc, embarking on an incredible journey. Iâve been honored to compete on the biggest stage, and I want to express my deepest gratitude to the UFC staff for their professionalism and support over the years. Thank you.
“From being Rookie of the Year to becoming an MMA veteran, this has been an unforgettable adventure. While this chapter closes, my story is far from over. I will continue to fight, take on new challenges, and settle unfinished business in the cage. I’m ready for whatever comes next!” Rozenstruik wrote on X.
I came to Riyadh to win and pull off the upset. After a strong fight week, I felt dizzy on Saturday due to the paint fumes. Then, just 70 seconds into the fight, I injured my left foot. The moment my switch kick landed on his elbow, I felt it⌠pic.twitter.com/fMdVDMPPNB
— Jairzinho 'BIGI BOY' Rozenstruik (@JairRozenstruik) February 6, 2025
“Bigi Boy” made his Octagon debut in in February 2019 with a third-round knockout victory over Junior Albini, eventually amassing a promotional record of 9-6, with eight of those wins coming by knockout.
However, Rozenstruik struggled to find his rhythm in the later stages of his tenure, falling short of his true potential as he went 5-6 in his last 11 outings.
One ranked UFC contender thinks they know the reasoning behind the decision to cut heavyweight Jairzinho Rozenstruik from his contract.
Rozenstruik arrived in Saudi Arabia last week off the back of consecutive victories inside the Octagon and with an opportunity to climb into title contention with a victory over a top five contender in Sergei Pavlovich.
Instead, “Bigi Boy” exited the anb Arena with a loss added to his record and his UFC tenure over.
After a decision defeat in a lackluster three-round contest with the Russian former interim title challenger, Rozenstruik was quickly released by the UFC. That decision came shortly after Dana White had described the fight as “horrible” during his post-fight press conference.
While the Surinamese heavyweight has long faced criticism for a safe and gun-shy style, the decision to cut him still turned plenty of surprised heads in the community.
Recent lightweight title challenger Renato Moicano appeared on X to give his two cents, suggesting that the promotion may be using Rozenstruik as an opportunity to send a message to the entire heavyweight roster.
Thatâs crazy they cut Jairzinho! 2 losses on the last 5 fights! I think UFC is trying to send a message to heavyweights!
He’ll look to bring his usual entertaining style back to the cage in 2025, be it in a long-awaited unification showdown with Jon Jones or a title defense against a top contender.
Heavyweight Jairzinho Rozenstruik’s display in the Middle East this past weekend was enough to signal the end of his UFC journey.
Rozenstruik featured on the main card of Saturday’s UFC Fight Night, sharing the Octagon with a fellow power-puncher in Sergei Pavlovich. While that left many predicting a knockout one way or the other, fans inside Riyadh’s anb Arena instead witnessed three rounds of lackluster action.
The Russian ultimately had his hand raised after getting the nod on all three scorecards, but neither man has been exempt from criticism in the aftermath.
For “Bigi Boy,” the bout marked his latest gun-shy performance. The Surinamese behemoth has produced plenty of highlights inside the Octagon, knocking out the likes of Andrei Arlovski, Alistair Overeem, and Chris Daukaus. But he’s also frequently been criticized for a perceived safe approach in other outings.
And the UFC evidently shares the frustration of the fanbase.
Just days on from the Feb. 1 event in Saudi Arabia, Rozenstruik has been released from his contract. After the @UFCRosterWatch account on X first flagged his removal from the roster, MMA Mania’s Alex Behunin confirmed the release.
Rozenstruik departs having gone 9-6 under the UFC banner. The 36-year-old featured in six main events and collected three Performance of the Night bonuses.
It remains to be seen what will come next for “Bigi Boy,” but fans are already speculating about a potential move to the Professional Fighters League (PFL) in the coming weeks and months.
Interim UFC Heavyweight Champion Tom Aspinall was among those unimpressed by Sergei Pavlovich’s decision win over Jairzinho Rozenstruik this past Saturday.
While the crowd inside the anb Arena anticipated a knockout, they were instead treated to three rounds of lackluster action between the Russian and Surinamese behemoths, with the former emerging victorious on the scorecards.
Aspinall took to his Instagram Stories to slam his former opponent and “Bigi Boy,” before calling for his return in order to bring “excitement” back to the weight class.
“These heavyweight fights lately absolutely stink,” Aspinall wrote. “Letâs get some excitement back and stop holding it up.â
Aspinall has held the interim belt since a first-round knockout triumph over Pavlovich in November 2023. He’s since defended it in a rematch with Curtis Blaydes, which he also won by way of stoppage in the opening frame.
All the while, Jon Jones has sat on the heavyweight throne and repeatedly dismissed a unification showdown, instead choosing to face Stipe Miocic last November in New York City.
Early on at UFC Saudi Arabia, we witnessed what happens when there is a heavyweight highlight thanks to Shamil Gaziev’s first-round knockout of Thomas Petersen. Ranked contenders Sergei Pavlovich and Jairzinho Rozenstruik, however, provided the polar opposite of such an outing during the main card portion of the evening.
Both fighters took a patient approach, with neither man looking to pull the trigger and go to the next level. While Pavlovich landed the bigger shots, he did not connect with anything that would wobble and trouble Rozenstruik.
The former interim title challenger instead took “Bigi Boy” down, with his top control leading him to sweeping the judges’ scorecards.
Sergei Pavlovich Scores Decision Win In Snoozefest At UFC Saudi Arabia
UFC heavyweight contender Sergei Pavlovich will have the chance for redemption when he returns to Saudi Arabia early next year.
Pavlovich (18-3) fell to the first losing skid of his career last time out in Riyadh, where his former training partner Alexander Volkov stifled his power en route to a comfortable unanimous decision victory.
With that, the Russian’s streak of six straight first-round finishes and impressive performance against Curtis Blaydes have become a distant memory. But, he will look to change that and remind the division of his brutal power in 2025.
Per MMA Mania’s Alex Behunin, the #4-ranked contender will return to the Kingdom Arena on Feb. 1, 2025, this time to throw down with Jairzinho Rozenstruik (15-5).
đ¨Fight Newsđ¨
Sergei Pavlovich vs. Jairzinho Rozenstruik booked for UFC Saudi Arabia on Feb. 1, 2025, per sources
While Pavlovich will ride a losing skid into the contest, Rozenstruik is currently on his first win streak since having his undefeated record blemished by Francis Ngannou back in May 2020.
“Bigi Boy” went on an inconsistent run in the years that followed before finally stringing together wins this year with a knockout triumph over Shamil Gaziev and split decision against Tai Tuivasa.
Having cemented his spot inside the heavyweight top 10 in 2024, the Surinamese knockout artist will have the chance to return to title contention with a big performance opposite Pavlovich in Saudi Arabia.
Things didn’t go to plan for heavyweight contender Tai Tuivasa at UFC 305, as his lengthy losing skid got further extended by Jairzinho Rozenstruik.
Since rising to a career high #3 in the rankings when a knockout of Derrick Lewis put him on a five-fight winning run, fan favorite Tuivasa has experienced nothing but defeat inside the Octagon.
This year began with “Bam Bam” suffering a fourth straight loss, with Marcin Tybura adding to the woes of the Australian’s setbacks opposite Ciryl Gane, Sergei Pavlovich, and Alexander Volkov.
And at this past weekend’s pay-per-view in Perth, Australia, it was the turn of Rozenstruik to get in on the action. “Bigi Boy” followed up on his headline win over Shamil Gaziev earlier in 2024 by comfortably outpointing Tuivasa in enemy territory.
Tuivasa On UFC 305 Setback: ‘We Live To Fight Another Day’
Following his latest defeat, Tuivasa soon took to social media with his first comments.
In a post on Instagram, “Bam Bam” acknowledged the effort he put into camp and expressed understandable disappointing at failing to have his hand raised in front of his home fans Down Under.
Nevertheless, the Aussie won’t be kept down, with the 31-year-old telling his fans that he “lives to fight another day.”
“Fuck. What a sport,” Tuivasa wrote. “I put my all into this camp and didnât come away with the win. Big love to all my fans I put my all into this didnât get the treats. My bad đ love you all the real ones â¤ď¸Â Live to fight another day. AUSSIE FANS I LOVE YOU C**TS BEST IN THE BIZZO đĽ°đĽ° We live to fight another day đ”Â
It remains to be seen what the future holds for Tuivasa. He had previously outlined his intention to return for a third fight this year following UFC 305. Whether or not that plan remains after Saturday’s loss is unclear.
Jairzinho Rozenstruik may find himself back in the top-10 of the UFC’s heavyweight rankings come next week, but the story after his win doesn’t come from his performance, but that of one judge’s scorecard.
Rozenstruik pieced up Tai Tuivasa in their UFC 305 encounter, being technical with his striking and doing serious damage. Tuivasa hurt his leg with a leg check in the second round, and Rozenstruik nearly finished with a couple of flurries in the round.
But while one judge saw the fight 29-28 Rozenstruik, and another 30-27 Rozenstruik, a third judge, Howie Booth, scored every round for Tuivasa — despite unanimous agreement from MMA media and MMA fans that Rozenstruik won rounds two and three.
MMA Fans And Media Blast Judge Who Awarded Tai Tuivasa A 30-27 Card Despite Being Dominated By Jairzinho Rozenstruik
Howie Booth can retire early tonight. Donât need someone that inept judging fights. They gotta look into that guy and see if he has some money on Tui. Ainât no way he won that. None. Gtfo. #UFC305
Rozenstruik has now won three of his last four fights.
Tuivasa, meanwhile, has dropped five straight.
UPDATE: The judge who scored the fight for Tuivasa has been relieved of his duties for the rest of the night.
Howie Booth, who had Tuivasa winning 3-0, was scheduled to work co-main event between Kara-France and Erceg, but I have been told he has been PULLED from the bout. Heâs done for the night. #UFC305
The UFC is headed back down under this weekend for UFC 305 which takes place in Perth, Australia on August 17.
As expected, there’s a lot of Australasian representatives on the card in some big fights and that’s certainly the case for heavyweight fan favorite Tai Tuivasa.
The Aussie slugger was on a great run of results heading into his main event clash with Ciryl Gane in September of 2022, following five consecutive stoppage victories.
Alexander Volkanovski Picks Tai Tuivasa To Bounce Back In A Big Way At UFC 305
Tuivasa is set to meet fellow heavyweight striker and knockout artist Jairzinho Rozenstruik this weekend as top 15 heavyweights throw down in Perth.
During his recent breakdown of the card, former UFC featherweight champion Alexander Volkanovski predicted a big win for Tuivasa to silence the critics.
He highlighted how despite “Bam Bam” coming in as the underdog this time around, he’s in a good position to cause an upset with his back against the wall and the Australian fans behind him.
“Home crowd, against a striker, I like them odds. I like them odds. Again, Rozenstruik is an incredible striker, I think he did a lot of kickboxing even before UFC so he’s no easy fight but I mean I feel like Tai Tuivasa is going to come out and land a finish. I think he can get the big KO finish. He’s due for one so I’m going to go ‘Bam Bam’. Again, everyone loves ‘Bam Bam’ and another way to keep this big day of fights in Perth rolling is a big ‘Bam Bam’ knockout and shoey afterwards.”
The UFC has grown exponentially in the years since its inception way back in 1993. While the sport of MMA has come a long way since the days of groin strikes, headbutts and Tank Abbott, the demands placed on the global leader to satisfy an ever-growing audience in this social media-driven world has led to a swollen roster of contracted fighters.
The need to provide content to fulfil contractual obligations with TV networks has meant an increase in the overall number of events the UFC are pumping out these days. There are 53 shows scheduled to take place in 2024 alone, between pay-per-view events and âFight Nightâ cards, spread out over international locations such as Brazil, France, the United Kingdom, Abu Dhabi, Australia and of course, the United States.
With many of these events taking place in the relatively low-key surroundings of the UFC Apex in Las Vegas, some of these cards have become less about putting fans in seats and more about ticking off fights on some fightersâ contracts. The biggest names are being kept for the pay-per-views and the rest are being wheeled out with the sole purpose of filling in the gaps.
This Saturdayâs Fight Night event (set to be headlined by a strawweight rematch between Amanda Lemos and Virna Jandiroba) is another card loaded with fights lacking in jeopardy and unlikely to have any telling effect on the title picture in any of the UFC weight divisions.
With that in mind, letâs look at five of the more underwhelming main events the UFC have offered up so far in 2024.
Roman Dolidze vs. Nassourdine Imavov, UFC Fight Night, February 3 (UFC Apex)
The UFCâ had a somewhat slow start to 2024. January brought us an underwhelming Fight Night card followed by a PPV event in Canada that lacked star names outside of the main event between Sean Strickland and Dricus Du Plessis. Coming into February, UFC fans were desperately in need of some high-stakes entertainment.
The Apex middleweight showdown between Dolidze and Imavov was not it. A main card entirely devoid of ranked fighters (outside of the main event) offered up one draw and four decisions, with only Randy Brownâs first-round knockout of Muslim Salikhov managing to give viewers something to get them out of their seats.
https://youtu.be/Z6OLxve-G2Q?si=qRqf4ZqaM6mSHNkG
Both main event fighters came into this event in stuttering form. Dolidze hadnât been seen in competitive action since losing to Marvin Vettori eleven months earlier, while Imavov was coming off the back of a difficult 2023. A decision loss to Sean Strickland early in the year was followed by his summer bout with Chris Curtis being declared a âno contestâ after an accidental clash of heads.
A majority decision victory for Nassourdine Imavov after twenty-five less-than-inspiring minutes followed. Both fighters picked up victories last month and seem to be rising through the ranks at 185lbs, but their clash at the Apex last February is not one that will live long in the memory of many UFC fans.
Jack Hermansson vs. Joe Pyfer, UFC Fight Night, February 10 (UFC Apex)
A week later, with UFC 298 on the horizon and the MMA news cycle being dominated by the build-up to Alexander Volkanovski vs Ilia Topuria, fans were treated to another Apex event with a middleweight headliner. This time, admittedly, there was a little more intrigue surrounding the headline match-up as Joe Pyfer was coming off the back of an unbeaten start to his UFC career. âBodybagzâ had won all three of his fights inside the Octagon to that point, and finishes over Alen Amedovski, Gerald Meerschaert and Abdul Razak Alhassan had earmarked the 26-year-old as a fighter worth keeping an eye on.
Jack Hermansson looked like he was being positioned as the man to give up his place in the rankings to Pyfer. The Swede was returning from a year-long absence due to injury and had lost three of his previous five bouts at 185lbs. Against the odds, however, Hermansson derailed the Pyfer hype train and, after a strong opening two rounds from Pyfer, âThe Jokerâ picked off his opponent from range over the remainder of the fight and walked away with a 48-47 scorecard from each of the three judges.
Jairzinho Rozenstruik vs. Shamil Gaziev, UFC Fight Night, March 2 (UFC Apex)
UFC 298 and the Fight Night that was held in Mexico City a week later gave fans a reminder of how good the atmosphere can be when big crowds and exciting fights are paired together. Ilia Topuriaâs title victory in Anaheim, California followed by Brandon Royvalâs win over Brandon Moreno the following week meant February had itsâ fair share of entertainment inside the Octagon.
Fans were brought back down to earth with a bang on March 2nd however, as perennial heavyweight gatekeeper Jairzinho Rozenstruik was paired with Shamil Gaziev. Although Gaziev came into this event unbeaten at 12-0, the Bahraini fighter had only made one appearance inside the Octagon so far and many fans seemed perplexed at his positioning in the headline slot of a UFC event so soon.
Image: Jairzinho Rozenstruik IG
The gulf in class was evident as Gaziev was utterly dominated by âBigi Boyâ from the off. After four one-sided rounds, a bruised and battered Gaziev was deemed unfit to continue following an inspection by referee Marc Goddard. Not only did Gaziev pick up the first loss of his professional career, his positioning in the main event slot so soon after signing with the UFC drew plenty of criticism from fans and fighters alike.
Tai Tuivasa vs. Marcin Tybura, UFC Fight Night, March 16 (UFC Apex)
Just two weeks later, in the wake of UFC 299, the ânew normalâ resumed in the UFC Apex as heavyweights Marcin Tybura and Tai Tuivasa collided in the main event of an event that featured such names as Ange Loosa, Isaac Dulgarian and Brian Battle on the main card.
https://youtu.be/AAzOlhvQaNs?si=t5np0uJB0GkpTjjY
Tyburaâs first-round submission victory would be his eighth win in ten fights helping the Polish fighter break into the top ten of the UFCâs heavyweight rankings. His opponent however was riding a three-fight losing streak coming into this bout and with the Australian taking significant damage in his defeats to Cyril Gane, Alexander Volkov and Sergei Pavlovich, the discussion among the MMA community in the wake of this defeat centred around whether or not âBam Bamâ should retire.
As it would turn out, Tybura made quick work of Tuivasa and the fight didn’t even see two minutes of action. Another underwhelming main event into the books, then.
Derrick Lewis vs. Rodrigo Nascimento, UFC Fight Night, May 11 (St. Louis)
April brought fight fans one of the most memorable fight cards in the history of the sport. UFC 300 was packed from top to bottom with current or former champions, and the knockouts delivered by Alex Pereira and Max Holloway during the main card will go down in history as two of the most exciting finishes inside the Octagon.
Lewis knocked out Nascimento in the main event but the fight failed to cause a ripple in the heavyweight rankings. âThe Black Beastâ had lost four of his previous six fights and is unlikely to enter the heavyweight title discussion anytime soon, while Nascimento had won three consecutive split-decision victories over unranked opponents prior to facing Lewis.
https://youtu.be/v5V07FuNqMw?si=CRsNMTozbW_T7h2r
It seems in the modern world of the UFC, for every title fight or number-one contender match-up fans are granted, they are doomed to sit through multiple filler events behind closed doors at the UFC Apex.
Rozenstruik and Tybura were both in the heavyweight title discussion before recent losses. Rozenstruik fell to Curtis Blaydes at UFC 266 while Tybura lost just weeks later at UFC 267 against Alexander Volkov.
Rozenstruik has traded wins and losses since his knockout loss to Francis Ngannou in just 20 seconds at UFC 249. He’s earned wins most recently against Junior dos Santos and Augusto Sakai.
Tybura was arguably the hottest heavyweight contender before a loss to Volkov. He had won five fights in a row over the likes of Ben Rothwell, Greg Hardy, and Walt Harris.
The full card for UFC Vegas 49 has yet to be announced, but the card will be headlined by top lightweight contenders Beneil Dariush and Islam Makhachev. The winner of that matchup will more than likely be next in line for the 155-pound title.
Before losing to Blaydes, Rozenstruik had called for potential matchups with the likes of Jon Jones and Stipe Miocic at heavyweight. Both men remain sidelined and are expected to return at some point in 2022.
As for Tybura, he remains a potential dark horse in the heavyweight division. Previous wins over Stefan Struve and Andrei Arlovski helped propel him into the heavyweight rankings.
Rozenstruik is listed at No. 6 and Tybura is slated at No. 9 in the latest UFC heavyweight rankings. The winner of this matchup could get a Top-5 opponent next.
