Alistair Overeem open to rematch with Jairzinho Rozenstruik following UFC Vegas 9 win
Alistair Overeem not done yet
Despite being 40-years-old and having more than 20 years of experience under his belt, Alistair Overeem just keeps moving forward.
This past Saturday, Overeem took on rising contender Augusto Sakai in the main event of UFC Vegas 9 from the UFC Apex and scored a highly impressive comeback win that came via fourth-round stoppage. Aside from showing off his veteran savvy and fight intelligence, Overeem proved that he still has some gas left in the tank.
Now a winner of four of his last five with all four of those victories coming by way of finish, “The Demolition Man” has once again inserted himself into the suddenly crowded heavyweight title picture. As for what’s next, there are a few different routes Overeem can go but one of the most logical options appears to be a rematch against Jairnzinho Rozenstruik.
Overeem and Rozenstriuk met in the main event of UFC on ESPN 7 last December in a bout that ended with “Bigi Boy” scoring a knockout victory with just seconds remaining on the clock in the fifth and final round. Up until that point, however, Overeem, the former Strikeforce and DREAM champion, had been winning nearly the entire fight and he’s not opposed to running it back.
“Rozenstruik, I destroyed that man,” Overeem said at the UFC Vegas 9 post-fight press conference via MMAFighting.com. “I schooled him. In my opinion, it was a very bad decision by the ref. Waving it off with zero seconds left.
“I have no problem running that back. In my mind, I already beat him. It’s only on paper that he kind of got it and he knows it, too. No problem running that back.”
Since that first fight, Overeem has scored back-to-back victories over Walt Harris and Sakai, while Rozenstruik suffered a brutal knockout loss to Francis Ngannou before rebounding with a victory over Junior Dos Santos at UFC 252 last month.
Given that both men are coming off recent victories, the timeline for a rematch makes sense. The bout also makes sense from a rankings standpoint, as the winner would inch even close to a title shot, which is something Overeem has made clear is of interest to him before he retires.
And while The Dutchman knows that his iconic fighting career is nearing its end, he won’t commit to when he’ll finally hang up his gloves for good just yet.
“I’ve not decided it yet,” he said. “We’re going to just see how it goes. I’m still loving it. I’m still improving. I still feel I can do it. We just need to see it case by case.
“Probably one or two more years, maybe three. We’ll see.”
