Jairzinho Rozenstruik: “I’m the new fear of the heavyweight division”
Rozenstruik vs Ngannou is days away and Jairzinho Rozenstruik seems like he’s firing on all cylinders heading into UFC 249. The #6 ranked UFC heavyweight contender appeared recently on Sirius XM Fight Nation and did an interview Rozenstruik covered a few different aspects of the road to May 9th, UFC 249, and beyond.
Bigi Boy was asked about the confidence he has gotten from beating recent opponents who were savvy/ experienced like Andrei Arlovski and Alistair Overeem. Rozenstruik said, “It do a lot. I feel real great and I feel like I’m ready for whatever. For the title shot, I think I could take him down. I think I’m the new fear of the heavyweight division, right now.” Rozenstruik recognizes that the #2 heavyweight contender is talented but not in a way that he thinks will present many issues on fight night.
Rozenstruik vs Ngannou
Jairzinho Rozenstruik quipped, “Let me put it as this. I think he has his skills but they are not skills that I’m afraid of. They are things I see coming from miles away. I was there for forever. I don’t know what he’s gonna come with. The one thing I know for sure is I’m going to be ready for even if he wanna fly. He go in here and starts flying. I’m ready and I was ready. Born ready before. So March 28th, it didn’t go through. April 18th, it didn’t go through. So hopefully May 9th, everything’s still the same and we can go in the octagon. Those guys lock the door so we can work things out.”
There is so much uncertainty in the UFC nowadays with Miocic vs Cormier III not locked down and the lack of certainty as to whether Rozenstruik vs Ngannou is a number one contender’s bout. An uncertain landscape that has caused frustrations for himself as well as his opponent Saturday night.
The Surinamese slugger stated, “For me, I hope the UFC find a solution to make it happen. This is why I’m doing this. I want to be champion. I’m working hard to be champion. This fight is a former fight for the championship fight. So after this, I really want this championship fight. I hope the UFC finds a solution for us because the heavyweight division is kind of stopped. Now I’m there, beat Francis, and I’m going to be right there. I mean, I need it.”
