J. Rozenstruik (left) defeated A. Overeem (right) in December 2019. Photo: Reproduction/Facebook @ufc
Although he is on track for a future fight for the heavyweight belt (up to 120,2kg), alistair overeem understands that you need a specific fight to reach your final destination. After beating Augusto Sakai, in UFC Las Vegas 9, the Dutchman aims for a rematch against Jairzinho Rozenstruik, by whom he was defeated in December last year.
See too
“I definitely (need the rematch). I still have scores to settle. He stole something from me. He took me out of the running with victory. I gave him a lesson. He knows. Everybody knows. Even so, he still has that victory. So, we have issues to resolve”, said the Dutchman, in an interview with 'ESPN'.
In December, Jairzinho accepted the last-minute challenge to face Overeem. On that occasion, the Surinamese replaced Walt Harris, who left the card amid a personal tragedy with his stepdaughter. In the confrontation, Alistair dominated Rozenstruik for almost five rounds, but, in the final seconds, he ended up surprised with a brutal knockout, which confirmed the defeat, which has not yet been forgotten.
After defeating Overeem, Jairzinho was selected for the 'duel of giants' against the feared Francis Ngannou. Against the French-Cameroonian, however, Rozenstruik was not efficient and succumbed to the rival force in the opening seconds of one of the main fights of the tournament. UFC 244.
Currently, Overeem is number five in the heavyweight rankings, while the Surinamese is ranked third. Rozenstruik is coming off a recent victory over junior gypsy, UFC 252.
Comments