UFC 252: Jairzinho Rozenstruik defeats Junior Dos Santos with 2nd round TKO

Last time Jairzinho Rozenstruik entered the cage, he suffered the first loss of his career, getting knocked out by Francis Ngannou in 20 seconds.

He had a tough task ahead of him on Saturday night: to bounce back against former UFC heavyweight champion Junior Dos Santos. And that he did; defeating the former champ with a second round TKO.

“I went back to the gym right away [after my loss to Ngannou],” said Rozenstruik after the fight. “I needed to get the win to get it straight.”

The fight started out tentatively, as the two strikers had a great respect for each other’s ability. However, it was Dos Santos who was the more active fighter, landing a wider array of strikes.

The Surinamese contender was content to bide his time and wait for a big opening, and that he got late in the second round, landing a left hand to the face followed by a right, knocking Dos Santos to the canvas. The bout was stopped by the referee after Rozenstruik landed some follow up strikes on the ground.

With this win – his 10th finish in 11 wins – Rozenstruik is now right back on the short list for heavyweight contenders.