UFC 252 has another big heavyweight showdown added to the card, with Junior Dos Santos taking on Jairzinho Rozenstruik.
UFC 252 is expected to be headlined by the heavyweight trilogy fight between current UFC champion Stipe Miocic, and former two-weight champion Daniel Cormier. With the first two fights being blockbuster cards, the third is expected to be the same way. And according to a report from Combate’s Raphael Marinho, UFC 252 is already getting another big heavyweight match-up, with former heavyweight champion Junior Dos Santos taking on Jairzinho Rozenstruik.
Junior Dos Santos is one of the UFC’s greatest heavyweights of all-time. The former champion reached the pinnacle of the promotion in 2011. Knocking out Cain Velasquez to earn the heavyweight strap, he would defend the belt against Frank Mir next before losing the title back to Velasquez. He would lose the trilogy fight the following year and would have an up and down UFC tenure following that rubber match. Dos Santos’s best post-title run was from 2016 to 2019, where he went 4-1 with the sole loss being to Stipe Miocic, in a rematch from their earlier fight, this time for the UFC’s heavyweight championship. However, “Cigano” is coming off back-to-back knockout losses, to Francis Ngannou and Curtis Blaydes.
Jairzinho Rozenstruik is making a quick turnaround, having just fought at UFC 249 in May. Rozenstruik was on the wrong end of a 20-second knockout by Francis Ngannou, that being the first loss of Rozenstruik’s career. Prior to that, Rozenstruik was undefeated in the UFC with wins over Andrei Arlovski, Allen Crowder, and Alistair Overeem to name a few. Rozenstruik was looking to earn a title shot with a win over Ngannou, and he’s likely to be looking to get back into the same position with a win over a former champion in Junior Dos Santos.
UFC 252 is scheduled to go down on August 15. There is currently no venue or location set for the PPV event.
