UFC 266: Jairzinho Rozenstruik Happy Curtis Blaydes is Underestimating Him

Las Vegas, NV — Heavyweight Jairzinho Rozenstruik enters this week’s UFC 266 battle with Curtis Blaydes coming off a June win over Augusto Sakai.

That TKO win saw Rozenstruik (12-2) bounce back from a loss to current interim champ Ciryl Gane.

“It was a big one,” admitted the Surinamese fighter during Wednesday’s UFC 266 media day. And with his only losses coming to Gane and full-fledged champ Francis Ngannou, Rozenstruik believes he should be in the conversation for a title shot should he claim victory this Saturday.

“All the time. It’s the heavyweight division, we’re working on a lot of things, fight a lot of fighters at the top,” noted Rozenstruik. “It’s always f*cked up when you lost, but you want to win, so anyways… it goes sideways.”

Curtis Blaydes appears the toughest possible fight for Rozenstruik; a dominant wrestler that may hold the kryptonite to his stand-up game. But it’s a fight that “Bigi Boy” was very open to, as he looks to work his way to a title shot.

“I didn’t ask for the fight, but it’s the fight to make, to bring me back on top,” he stated. “Curtis is the #4, and I’m the #6. If I still want to get a crack at the title, that’s the guy to take out. It was the perfect fight, and a big challenge as well.”

Rozenstruik later went on to add that “if I win this Saturday, you’ve got to bring me up there, set me up.”

Ahead of the fight, Blaydes made a not-so-favorable comparison between Rozenstruik and Derrick Lews. The gist of the comment was, Rozenstruik is a lesser version of “The Black Beast.”

“I’m happy he’s underestimating me,” Rozenstruik said in response. “This Saturday’s going to be different. It’s going to be me and him, I don’t even count the referee, because when it’s over, it’s over.”

Watch the full UFC 266 media day appearance from Jairzinho Rozenstruik above. More coverage from the event can be found below.