UFC Media Day: Rozenstruik vs Almeida – Focused Heavyweights Ready for War

We’ve got a couple of heavyweights doing their UFC media day work prior to getting to work in the octagon this weekend. 

This weekend is a big one for the big boys of the UFC; Jailton Almeida will take a huge step up in competition as he faces Jairzinho Rozenstruik. Almeida is on a 13-fight wining streak with all of these wins coming by way of stoppage. Heck, all of this dude’s wins are by stoppage! His 18 wins consist of 7 knockouts and 11 submissions.

But, his opponent knows a thing or two about avoiding a decision himself. At 13-4, ‘Bigi Boy’ has won 12 of his fights by knockout. This includes his knockout win against Chris Daukus last December in a fight that only lasted 23-seconds. Without a doubt, it’s Jailton Almeida that has the momentum going into this fight, but Rozenstruik’s been fighting much tougher guys. A lot of questions will be answered come fight day.

Before we get to that, we’ve got one of my favorite parts of fight week: media day. The journalists of the sport get to pick the brains of the athletes and help hype the card up and add a bit more intrigue to the card. Let’s take a glimpse into this UFC press event and see what the main event fighters are thinking.

UFC Media Day: Jairzinho Rozenstruik Wants a Big Name Next

Right off the bat, the tenured Rozenstruik let it be known that this fight is less than ideal for him:

“First of all, we didn’t want to do the fight. Me and my team discussed it right away; we came off of a good win, we want to fight someone higher in the rankings.”

However, Jairzinho added to this, implying that he doesn’t think this is an easy fight, but rather, he just feels he deserves a better ranked opponent.

‘Bigi Boy’ was then asked if he thinks that Jailton, being a bit smaller, will be in for a surprise when he feels Rozenstruik’s power:

“I definitely think there’s going to be a size difference. Maybe not… maybe he cuts a lot of weight to go to light heavyweight. But, from my experience, I don’t think he carries that much weight or that much power… I’m walking around sometimes at 270lbs… A big guy vs a guy like [Almeida], sometimes it can make a difference.”

UFC Media Day: Jailton Almeida’s Ready For The Top

Four fights up, four fights down. Almeida was asked how he feels about this main event spot with him only having four fights in the UFC thus far:

“Honestly, thinks have been going pretty quickly. I have a year and change within the organization. Not only being in the main event, but being ranked and everything that has happened since I got in — everything has been going quick. I really appreciate the organization for giving me the opportunity.”

Almeida, ever the quick finisher, was asked if he puts pressure on himself to get the job done and get it done fast. He responded:

“Yeah, I don’t think there’s any pressure. I’m always ready for the full length of the fight. Like, for this one, I’ve trained everything for five rounds. But, I guess [my] style is just more effective than most.”

What’s In It For The Winner?

Could the winner of this fight have a date with heavyweight champion Jon Jones in their future? Photo Credit: Abaca / Icon Sport

With Jon Jones, Stipe Miocic, and Sergei Pavlovich at the top of the heavyweight division right now, a title shot will be a tough one to get. But, an impressive win here will certainly put the winner in a great position for a title eliminator fight, depending on how the title picture unravels.