Was Jairzinho Rozenstruik ever imprisoned on drug charges? Read all about the UFC heavyweight's harrowing ordeal in the Netherlands 

Years before signing with the UFC, Jairzinho Rozenstruik found himself in a serious legal predicament. Back in 2014, when he was still an active kickboxer, Rozenstruik had traveled to the Netherlands with seven other men who, like him, were Surinamese.

Unfortunately, those very same men were smuggling drugs. Specifically, local Dutch reports disclosed that cocaine was found on their person, leading to them being arrested at the airport. The party had claimed to have only been attending a kickboxing event, but their alibi was dismissed, given the drugs found on them.

Rozenstruik, however, was the only one within the group who was not found to be in possession of any substances. Nevertheless, due to his association with the group, he was imprisoned for a year, which he claims only occurred because he lacked the funds to afford adequate legal representation.

Subsequently, in 2015, he was released, and the Surinamese heavyweight continues to proclaim his innocence. From 2015 onward, he would compete several more times in kickboxing, embarking on an unbeaten run before fully transitioning from kickboxing to MMA, where he found significant success initially.

Rozenstruik was perfect in his first 10 fights in the sport, knocking out or TKO'ing everyone who stood in his path save for Andrey Kovalev, who managed to drag him into a tight split decision. Unfortunately, his undefeated run came to an end in the form of a 20-second knockout loss courtesy of Francis Ngannou.

He has since gone on a win-loss run of form, struggling to record more than two wins at a time. Now, he hopes to rebound from a listless loss to Jailton Almeida by taking on unbeaten Dagestani finisher Shamil Gaziev, whose record sits at 12–0. The pair headline this weekend's UFC Vegas 87.

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Jairzinho Rozenstruik has no wins over anyone currently ranked in the UFC

Despite getting off to a blistering and undefeated run in the UFC, Jairzinho Rozenstruik has been on an unprecedented rough patch since a 2020 knockout loss to Francis Ngannou. In fact, none of his wins have come against anyone currently ranked in the UFC. His most recent win is a knockout of Chris Daukaus.

Daukus is no longer signed to the UFC, having left the promotion on a four-fight losing streak. Similarly, Augusto Sakai, who he had TKO'd left the UFC after losing four of his last five fights. Junior dos Santos and Alistair Overeem are also gone from the promotion.

Both men were knocked out by Rozenstruik, with Overeem now retired from MMA. Júnior Albini is also no longer with the promotion, and Allen Crowder is retired. Only Andrei Arlovski, albeit unranked, is still in the UFC.