Rozenstruik removed from UFC roster after lacklustre loss to Pavlovich
Jairzinho Rozenstruik has been removed from the UFC roster mere days after his lacklustre performance against Sergei Pavlovich at UFC Fight Night: Adesanya vs. Imavov in Saudi Arabia.
Jairzinho Rozenstruik has been removed from the UFC roster mere days after his lacklustre performance against Sergei Pavlovich at UFC Fight Night: Adesanya vs. Imavov in Saudi Arabia.
Rozenstruik had a two-fight winning streak snapped when he dropped a unanimous decision to Pavlovich in a featured main event matchup that was expected to end in a knockout for either competitor. Afterwards, the fight was criticized by UFC president Dana White, who called the 15-minute contest “horrible.”
The news comes as somewhat of a surprise, considering Rozenstruik was ranked in the top 10 and lost a decision to the No. 4 contender.
The 36-year-old from Suriname was a professional kickboxer before beginning his pro mixed martial arts career. Rozenstruik began his MMA career 10-0, and his first four fights in the UFC all resulted in him winning by knockout.
Back-to-back highlight knockouts of former UFC champion Andrei Arlovski and then Alistair Overeem led to him facing Francis Ngannou at UFC 249 in 2020. However, Rozenstruik was knocked out by Ngannou in 20 seconds and since then has gone below .500. He also holds notable wins over Junior Dos Santos, Tai Tuivasa and Shamil Gaziev.
Rozenstruik and Pavlovich both took a cautious approach and were wary of the other’s punching power, resulting in a not-so-exciting fight that went the distance. It was reminiscent of Ngannou’s forgettable fight with Derrick Lewis from 2018, during which the two knockout artists mostly just stood across from one another, waiting for the other to move first.
Pavlovich remains on the UFC roster as of Tuesday, but Rozenstruik was not the only losing fighter from this past weekend to get the axe from the UFC.
Fellow heavyweight Jamal Pogues was also removed from the UFC roster after losing a forgettable split decision to Hamdy Abdelwahab. One judge scored all three rounds for Pogues, but the other two judges gave Abdelwahab two rounds each.
Pogues earned a UFC contract in 2023 after picking up two wins on the Contender Series and ended up going 2-2 at the UFC level. He went the distance in all four of his UFC appearances, beating Josh Parisian and Thomas Peterson by decisions and losing to Mick Parkin and Abdelwahab.
Pogues was not a ranked contender at heavyweight the way Rozenstruik was.
