Jairzinho Rozenstruik and Augusto Sakai clash in the main event of Saturday’s UFC Fight Night 189. The two heavyweights come into this match fired up, knowing that if they win, they could end up in a title eliminator battle, maybe even until the end of the year. The stakes are high, and the fighting style of both these guys guarantees excitement.
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Rozenstruik vs. Sakai Preview
Jairzinho Rozenstruik (11-2 MMA, 5-2 UFC) -135
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Bigi Boy started his MMA and UFC career furiously, recording 10 wins until Francis Ngannou smashed him in 20 seconds at the UFC 249. After that, the fighter from Surinam defeated Junior dos Santos via TKO in the second round but again lost this February, to Ciryl Gane, following on a dull and tactical match. The win went to the French via unanimous decision.
Rozenstruik is a ferocious puncher, with 10 of his 11 wins coming via KO. Like Ngannou and Derrick Lewis, he too has that one-punch knockout power that makes him very dangerous.
Other than that, Bigi Boy is pretty much an average fighter with all due respect, with poor ground technique and not-so-shinny wrestling skills.
Augusto Sakai (15-2-1 MMA, 4-1 UFC) +115
The Brazilian is one of the newer faces in the UFC, starting his spell in the most prominent MMA organization back in September 2018. He would defeat Chase Sherman back then, and after that, take down the former champ, Andrei Arlovski (split decision), Marcin Tybura (KO), and Blagoy Ivanov (split decision). His sole UFC loss came against Alistair Overeem in September last year via TKO in the fifth round of what was the main event of the night.
That defeat cast a shadow on Sakai’s previous record, suggesting that he might not be the potential for top 5 places in the division. This bout is his chance for redemption.
Sakai also finishes his matches via KO (11 of 15), but we can’t say that it is close to Rozenstruik’s. On the other side, he’s a bit more refined and not as raw as his next rival in certain areas of the fight.
Rozenstruik vs Sakai Pick and Prediction
We believe that this fight isn’t going to see the regular ending but finish much earlier. To be perfectly honest, the safest move here would be to bet on the fight to end with a KO (method of win). These two guys are powerful strikers, and as you saw, both of them finished most of their fights via KO.
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-->Pick: Fight Ending with KO +110
