Tai Tuivasa set to face Jairzinho Rozenstruik at UFC 305 in Perth: "It's official!"
Tai Tuivasa and Jairzinho Rozenstruik will throw down in a consequential contest at heavyweight this Summer.
UFC 305 emanates from RAC Arena in Perth, Western Australia. The Aug. 17 card will be headlined by middleweight champion Dricus Du Plessis defending his 185-pound title against former two-time divisional kingpin Israel Adesanya.
This new matchup was announced by Tuivasa's opponent on social media. This came via the official 'Bigi Boy' X account as Rozenstruik posted:
"Ladies and gentlemen, it's official! I just signed the bout agreement! #UFC305"
Check the Tai Tuivasa vs. Jairzinho Rozenstruik UFC 305 announcement below
Tai Tuivasa and Jairzinho Rozenstruik's paths to UFC 305
Tai Tuivasa has previously overcome a three-fight losing streak in the UFC from 2018 to 2019. But this recent skid has been the longest so far of his UFC tenure.
The 31-year-old has dropped his last four fights to Ciryl Gane, Sergei Pavlovich, Alexander Volkov, and Marcin Tybura. Tuivasa has been finished in all of these outings with it having been almost two and half years since he notched a professional win in mixed martial arts competition.
The native of Australia looks to return to the win column on home soil and snap this recent dry spell. 'Bam Bam' has secured significant wins inside the octagon against Derrick Lewis, Augusto Sakai, Derrick Lewis, Stefan Struve, and Andrei Arlovski to name a few.
Conversely for Rozenstruik, he has largely alternated between wins and losses inside of the UFC during this decade so far. The former kickboxing champion would make his name on circuits like Rizin as Rozenstruik honed his pro-MMA skills.
'Bigi Boy' would then carve out his name in the UFC besting fighters like Andrei Arlovski and Alistair Overeem and grow his professional record in the sport to 10-0 overall.
A 20-second KO loss to eventual UFC heavyweight champion Francis Ngannou at UFC 249 kicked off a stretch of inconsistencies for Rozenstruik.
The Suriname native scored wins over Junior Dos Santos and Augusto Sakai which bookended a loss to Ciryl Gane. He then suffered back-to-back defeats to Curtis Blaydes and Alexander Volkov before returning to the win column versus Chris Daukaus.
Rozenstruik enters the cage this Summer off of a win as he bounced back from a Jailton Almeida setback to defeat Shamil Gaziev in March.
Tai Tuivasa is presently ranked at No.10, while Jairzinho Rozenstruik is the No.12-ranked contender within the current heavyweight hierarchy.