The best and worst from UFC on ESPN: Overeem vs. Rozenstruik
The UFC’s return to our screens after three weeks away was a welcome one, and UFC on ESPN: Overeem vs. Rozenstruik generally delivered up and down the card.
We got 8 finishes across the 12 fights on show; the various tributes to cancer victims over the night were classy, and the show also did a great job of hyping up next week’s big UFC 245 card as a must-see pay-per-view. All in all, the UFC did a good job here.
Here are the best and worst moments from UFC on ESPN: Overeem vs. Rozenstruik.
#1 Best: Rozenstruik arrives as a Heavyweight contender
Okay, so I must admit that it pains me to put this as the “best” moment of the show, as those of you who read my work regularly will probably know that Alistair Overeem – along with Diego Sanchez – is probably my all-time favorite MMA fighter. And of course, last night’s show saw him finished in nasty fashion – left with a Robbie Lawler-esque slice in his top lip after Jairzinho Rozenstruik nailed him with a big right hand in the fifth round.
For the UFC though, the result was definitely a good thing. Overeem is 39 and his time as a title contender, realistically, has been and gone. Rozenstruik meanwhile is now 10-0 in MMA, 4-0 in the UFC and he’s knocked out everyone he’s faced. At Heavyweight, that makes him a bona fide title contender, even if this performance showed off his limitations – he looked somewhat lost on the ground and was clearly losing the fight until he landed the big shot late in the fifth.
Post-fight ‘Bigi Boy’ called out Francis Ngannou for a title eliminator, and if the UFC are indeed pursuing a Miocic/Cormier rematch for the Heavyweight title, then a clash between the Surinamese prospect and ‘The Predator’ sounds good to me.