Jairzinho Rozenstruik def Alistair Overeem by knockout, Round 5, 4:56.
Few expected the UFC Fight Night on ESPN main event between Jairzinho Rozenstruik and Alistair Overeem to go nearly five rounds, but the end result was one many predicted, as Suriname’s Rozenstruik continued his rise to the top of the heavyweight division with a late fifth-round knockout win to make it 4-0 in the UFC in 2019.
Overeem hinted at a takedown in the opening stages of the bout, and he delivered on that promise in the second minute by putting Rozenstruik on his back. “The Demolition Man” kept his foe grounded for the rest of the frame, and while he wasn’t spectacular, it was enough to secure the round.
The crowd got restless in the second as the two battled in the clinch along the fence. With a little over two minutes left, referee Dan Miragliotta restarted the stalled action, and while Rozenstruik got a little busier, a big left hand from Overeem was the biggest shot landed in the fight thus far.
While the standup action was fairly even, Overeem broke a close third round open with a late takedown, punctuating the frame with some hard shots before the horn.
In the fourth, Rozenstruik got more active, and while his flurries were flashier, Overeem continued to stay busy enough to keep his opponent honest. Yet just when it appeared that Overeem was going to wrap up a decision win with more steady work in the fifth round, Rozenstruik struck with seconds remaining in the fight, dropping Overeem hard to the seat of his pants and splitting his lip in the process. Overeem rose to his feet, but as he stumbled, referee Dan Miragliotta stopped the fight at the 4:56 mark of round five.
With the win, the No. 14-ranked Rozenstruik moves to 10-0. The No. 6-ranked Overeem falls to 45-18 with 1 NC. At the time of the stoppage, Overeem was up 4-0 on all three judges’ scorecards.