Jairzinho Rozenstruik set to return to octagon at UFC Saudi Arabia

Jairzinho Rozenstruik looks like he will be entering the cage next for UFC Saudi Arabia.

The number 12-ranked heavyweight contender returns to competition against an undefeated hot prospect who's looking to encroach into the top 15 rankings for the first time.

Shamil Gaziev will next be clashing with Rozenstruik per the information shared by the manager of the former.

Gaziev cut his teeth on circuits like Brave CF before winning on the Contender Series and securing a victory in his official UFC debut thereafter. He bested Martin Buday via second-round TKO at UFC 296 and looks to make a big splash in his sophomore fight under the UFC banner.

The development was subsequently shared via X account @mma_orbit, and the news break reads as:

"🔥Jairzinho Rozenstruik will take on Shamil Gaziev at #UFCSaudiArabia on March 2. [per Gaziev’s manager]".

Check out the details on this heavyweight announcement for Q1 of 2024 below:

---

Jairzinho Rozenstruik and his rise in the MMA world

Jairzinho Rozenstruik dedicated a lot of time to kickboxing before jumping to mixed martial arts in May 2012.

The Suriname native cut his teeth on his local circuit, in Aruba, and with Rizin before eventually making his debut for the Ultimate Fighting Championship. Rozenstruik halted Junior Albini in the second round via strikes at UFC on ESPN+2 and amassed a winning streak thereafter.

The 35-year-old then finished Allen Crowder, Andrei Arlovski, and Alistair Overeem by way of strikes until he was halted in 20 seconds by Francis Ngannou at UFC 249.

Since then, Rozenstruik has largely alternated between wins and losses in the last four years or so.

'Bigi Boy' defeated Junior Dos Santos after the Ngannou loss but then fell short on points to Ciryl Gane in February 2021. After that, a first-round finish over Augusto Sakai led to a unanimous decision loss for Rozenstruik to Curtis Blaydes at UFC 266.

Rozenstruik then lost to Alexander Volkov via first-round TKO, only to bounce back and knock out Chris Daukaus in 23 seconds during their UFC 282 clash.

His last outing, as of this writing, saw Jailton Almeida secure a first-round rear naked choke at UFC on ABC 4 in May of last year. Rozenstruik looks to start his 2024 off by returning to the win column against an undefeated surging heavyweight.