Charlotte, NC — UFC Heavyweight Jairzinho Rozenstruik is coming off of a sub-30 second KO finish in his last fight against Chris Daukaus in December of 2022.
On Saturday at UFC Charlotte, Jairzinho Rozenstruik (13-4) will be taking on Jailton Almeida in his fifth main event for the UFC. Rozenstruik spoke transparently on Wednesday at media day.
“First of all, we didn’t want to do the fight.” Rozenstruik bluntly responded to a question on his initial thoughts on his fight with Almeida being made.
“Cause me and my team discussed right away, we come off a good win, we want to fight someone higher in the rankings. And the UFC really wanted the fight, so the fights happening.” Jairzinho expressed that he wasn’t shying away from a fight with Almeida specifically, and he that didn’t feel like the UFC owed him anything for fighting a lower ranked opponent and added, “It’s not like I’m doing the company a favor but that’s how it is. You’re looking forward in life, right? You want to go forward.”
“So, I see this as the bigger picture: win this fight, get me ready and then go forward with a higher ranked opponent.”
When asked to call out a name he’d like to fight in the division Rozenstruik said he was just focusing on the fight Saturday, but eventually settled on stating “There’s only, I think, two guys in the top 10 or top 5 so it’s going to be Tom Aspinall or Tai Tuivasa. But that’s the name, I think. All the other guys, I’ve already fought.”
Jairzinho’s opponent, Jailton Almeida’s most recent fight earlier this year was at heavyweight, but he did fight at light heavyweight in 2022.
“I definitely think there’s going to be a size difference- Maybe not. Because maybe he cuts a lot of weight to go to light heavyweight.” Rozenstruik said of his opponent Almedia who weighed in at 232lbs. for his last fight.
Rozenstruik revealed that he walks around close to 270lbs and when he’s in camp naturally starts to drop some weight. Jairzinho also reiterated that weight classes and huge weight disparities are a factor that should always be considered. “But a big guy against a (naturally smaller) guy like that, sometimes it can make a difference.”
Watch the full UFC Charlotte media day appearance by Jairzinho Rozenstruik above.
