Athletes
Jairzinho Rozenstruik: Soldiering On
Top 15 Heavyweight Talks Growing Pains, Inconsistent Results As He Readies To Face Shamil Gaziev In Saturday’s Main Event
Representation matters and Jairzinho Rozenstruik strives to be an example for MMA hopefuls from his home nation of Suriname as he continues to compete under the bright lights of the UFC.
“In the future, I want to do a gym back home,” said Rozenstruik, who competes against Shamil Gaziev in the main event of this weekend’s return to the UFC APEX in Las Vegas. “I try to inspire fighters back home all the time.”
The first athlete from the small South American nation to compete inside the Octagon, the 35-year-old heavyweight admitted that he feels both pride and pressure being someone for the next generation to follow and aspire to emulate in mixed martial arts, the same way he did with another vaunted combat sports finisher.
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“I was looking at Tyrone Spong as that person from kickboxing, and now they have me in the UFC — the biggest platform in combat sports,” continued Rozenstruik, who burst onto the scene with four stoppage wins in his rookie year and has remained a fixture in the Top 15 ever since. “It’s important to pass my knowledge through to the young fighters; it’s huge to do that and it feels good to do it.
"I feel like I owe it to them because I’ve been here — I’ve seen the missteps, I’ve been through it, so I have to pass it on to them. I owe them that and I have to do it.”
When pressed to identify any of the missteps he’s witnessed and encountered, the affable heavyweight declined to go into detail, offering only that these miscues can come, at times, “because you’re trying new things, trying to win, and you make adjustments, and they might be the wrong ones.”
What he did explain, however, is that his extended hiatus between last year’s bout with Jailton Almeida and Saturday’s pairing with Gaziev was primarily by choice, and that his intention is to take another break after getting back into the win column this weekend.
“Part of me wanted a quick turnaround, but I needed a rest, I needed the headspace; I needed to get straight,” said Rozenstruik, who was submitted in the opening frame by the surging Brazilian last May in North Carolina. “I got a few opportunities that I had to turn down. I wanted it so bad because you have the bad taste in your mouth, you’ve been working, been trying new things, but then…”
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He trailed off momentarily, as if the memory of having to decline opportunities and work to remedy whatever was out of sync brought the pangs of frustration and disappointment back to the fore.
“But we’ve got a new challenge in front of us,” he said, picking up where he left off with a smile on his face. “Feeling good; motivated, confident.
“It’s an interesting one. He has a perfect record. It’s a big opportunity, a main event, so it’s a good one. Only thing that can happen right now is to get this victory, take a step back, recalibrate, reconnect with back home, and go forward.”
Jairzinho Rozenstruik Fight Week Interview | UFC Fight Night: Rozenstruik vs Gaziev
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Jairzinho Rozenstruik Fight Week Interview | UFC Fight Night: Rozenstruik vs Gaziev
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The bout with Almeida last year feels like a perfect representation of the challenges the former kickboxer has faced as he’s looked to forge ahead in the treacherous heavyweight ranks.
Landing on the wrong side of things in a striking exchange is one thing, and something Rozenstruik is plenty familiar with, but grappling remains an area where he is working to improve, and trying to build that knowledge base and develop those skills while competing against the best in the world is a daunting task.
“That fight was,” he began, exhaling deeply as he searched for the right words to express what went wrong. “I wanted more time for him, and I didn’t get the time; they didn’t have more time to give me. Then it’s like, ‘Okay, we take what we have and try to survive, then put him away.’
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“We knew he was a difficult one, he wanted to grapple, and trying to avoid it — he’s not a blue belt, and he wanted to secure (the takedown). He got it and the plan was to survive, stand, and put him away, and he got me.
“He beat me with that takedown, so you go home disappointed, but your next camp starts right there,” Rozenstruik added, forever spinning things forward in a positive fashion. “You know what to do to get back, what to do to secure another win.”
That eternal belief that success is right around the corner and the next one will show the fruits of his labor in the gym has been key as consistent positive results have been elusive since the first year of his UFC career.
After punctuating his rookie campaign with a buzzer-beater finish of Alistair Overeem in his first main event assignment, the heavy-handed heavyweight has amassed a 3-5 record inside the Octagon, failing to secure consecutive victories during that stretch.
Some of that can be chalked up to the level of competition Rozenstruik has faced, as the setbacks have come against Francis Ngannou, Ciryl Gane, Curtis Blaydes, Alexander Volkov, and, most recently, Almeida. At the same time, those are the names ahead of him in the divisional ranks and the type of elite competitors he’ll need to get through if he wants to work his way back into the Top 10.
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“It’s a big challenge, it’s tough, and I’m sacrificing a lot of things, but even with the inconsistency of the results, I still get better and I learn a lot,” said Rozenstruik, once again finding the silver lining in his struggles. “It’s always somebody else, it’s always a different style, so what do you bring to the table to get the job done?
“The ground game is not my first sport, so I train this, and then I have to prove it right away in the Octagon,” he continued, laughing at his own plight. “It’s hard, but, at the same time, I’m willing to sacrifice everything to get the job done, and that’s why we keep going.
“The dream is still alive. The heavyweight division is still great. There are a lot of names I didn’t get yet. We’ve been working on things, and all it takes sometimes is one fight to turn things around, so we go forward, motivated.”
And that one fight could be Saturday’s pairing with Gaziev, an undefeated member of the Dana White’s Contender Series Class of 2023.
After earning his contract in September, the 34-year-old from Bahrain made a quick turnaround to debut at UFC 296, kicking off the final pay-per-view event of the year with a second-round stoppage win over Martin Buday, who entered the bout on a 12-fight winning streak that included four consecutive victories inside the Octagon.
Now, he’s in a main event in just his second UFC appearance, and Rozenstruik is once again ready to welcome his foe to the deep waters of the division, and excited to close out the evening with a return to the win column.
“It’s gonna be crazy,” he said, smiling, when asked how it will feel to deliver the type of performance he’s envisioning on Saturday night. “I’m telling you — it’s going to be a whole different ‘Bigi Boy’ than you’ve been seeing the last two fights. I feel good, my body is good; I can’t wait to get in there.
“I hope Shamil comes in his best shape so we can give the people what they want, and I can walk out of there with my hand raised."
UFC Fight Night: Rozenstruik vs Gaziev took place live from UFC APEX in Las Vegas, Nevada on March 2, 2024. See the final Prelims and Main Card results, Official Scorecards and Who Won Bonuses - and relive the action on UFC Fight Pass!
