An important showdown is going down in the heavyweight division at UFC Vegas 20 on Saturday night with No. 4 ranked Jairzinho Rozenstruik taking on No. 7 Ciryl Gane in the main event.
Rozenstruik is rolling into the bout with an 11-1 professional record and is coming off a TKO victory over former UFC heavyweight champion Junior dos Santos last August. His opponent, Gane, is an undefeated, 7-0 prospect who has won all four of his UFC bouts. He soared into the top 10 of the division in December after defeating dos Santos by TKO, and now hopes to break into the top five with a victory over “Bigi Boy.”
Heavy recently spoke with Rozenstruik about his upcoming clash with “Bon Gamin.” And during the conversation, he gave us his take on former UFC light heavyweight king Jon Jones.
Jones is currently preparing to make his heavyweight debut and UFC president Dana White has confirmed on multiple occasions that he will fight the winner of UFC 260’s heavyweight championship bout with champ Stipe Miocic and No. 1 ranked Francis Ngannou. The match is scheduled to take place on March 27.
Keep reading to see what Bigi Boy had to say about “Bones.”
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Rozenstruik Will Not ‘Avoid’ a Fight With Jones, Wants to Be Active in 2021 to Continue Developing His Skills
GettyJairzinho Rozenstruik (R) punches Junior Dos Santos in their heavyweight bout during the UFC 252 event at UFC APEX on August 15, 2020 in Las Vegas, Nevada.
Rozenstruik told Heavy he plans to fight a couple more times in 2021 after the Gane fight. Bigi Boi is focused on developing his craft as a mixed martial artist so that if a title fight or match with someone like Jones presents itself, he will be ready.
“By fighting against one of the best in the world, you know where you stand,” Bigi Boy said about Bones. “So, that’s not a fight I’m going to avoid. That’s a fight you have to be ready for and that’s why I want to keep fighting, doing my thing, developing and when one of the biggest fights comes you want to be ready, because you want to win that one.”
Rozenstruik is not bothered by Bones receiving an immediate title shot at heavyweight, a division Jones has never competed in. Jones is arguably the greatest fighter of all time, boasting a resume that is rivaled by few.
“I have no problem with [Jones] skipping the line to get the title shots,” Rozenstruik said.
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‘You have to Be Ready to Stop’ Jones, Rozenstruik Told Heavy
Although Bones hasn’t fought north of 205 pounds in the UFC, Rozenstruik is confident Jones’ skills will transfer to heavyweight. But if Bigi Boy, who has 10 wins by KO/TKO, is ever locked inside the Octagon across from Jones, he will be “ready to stop him.”
“We haven’t seen the man at heavyweight yet, but that doesn’t mean he’s lost his skills,” Rozenstruik said. “Jon Jones is the kind of fighter who is going to look for everything to finish the fight. So, you have to be ready for when that time comes, you have to be ready to stop him.”
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On Fighting UFC’s Jon Jones: ‘Not a Fight I’m Going to Avoid’