Dana White is looking for a fight but Alexander Volkov and Jairzinho Rozenstruik are in need of a win. Volkov vs. Rozenstruik headlines UFC Fight Night at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas on Saturday, June 4.
Volkov (34-10) looked like a surefire title contender after four UFC fights and about 14 minutes and 50 seconds of his fifth. Volkov, a former Bellator and M-1 heavyweight champion, arrived at UFC 229 with consecutive knockouts of Fabricio Werdum and Stefan Struve. Volkov dominated Derrick Lewis for almost the entirety of three rounds. Then, Lewis shockingly reversed fortunes and finished Volkov with 11 seconds left in the fight. It was statistically the biggest comeback in UFC history. Volkov has since struggled to capture the breakthrough moment that eluded at UFC’s highest-selling pay-per-view to date. Wins over Greg Hardy, Walt Harris and Alistair Overeem were undercut by challenging losses to Curtis Blaydes, Ciryl Gane and Tom Aspinall. The road to rebuilding himself as a real contender begins with Rozenstruik.
“I believe I’m good at standup, too, so I will try to show my best in this fight,” Volkov said at Wednesday’s media day. “I believe my technical skills are much better than his. Maybe I don’t have some kind of power in my punch, but for sure I’m more technical and for sure I have a lot of power in my kicks. For sure, I feel I have much better wrestling and grappling than him, so I’m feeling it’s a good fight for me. But we’ll see how it goes.
“A lot of people have punched him in the head, and it was nothing for him. But I’ll try to not just punch but kick too. So we’ll see.”
Rozenstruik (12-3) has experienced similar woes. A behemoth unleashed upon the heavyweight division, Rozenstruik knocked out his first three UFC opponents, including a 29-second knockout of Andrei Arlovski at UFC 244. Questions first emerged during his Fight Night headliner against Overeem. Rozenstruik kept his knockout streak alive but just barely. He was down on the judges’ scorecards before acquiring the knockout with four seconds left in the fight. A pattern of alternating wins and losses subsequently emerged. Rozenstruik was evaporated by Ngannou and has since lost to Gane and Blaydes as well.
“It is challenging. He’s tall. He has more reach. A lot more reach, but it is what it is,” Rozenstruik said. “But I don’t think he’s going to stand and strike with me. I think he’s going to try to take me down and we’re going to see it from there. But I don’t think he’s going to strike with me.
“I don’t think it’s going to be a long fight. That’s how I think. It can be the first round, the second round. That’s how I see it basically.”
A featherweight fight worth watching occupies Saturday’s co-main event slot. Dan Ige has flirted with the division’s elite repeatedly but has yet to solve puzzles at the level of Calvin Kattar, Chan Sung Jung or Josh Emmett. Movsar Evloev is a serious featherweight worth watching. A perfect 15-0 in his career, Evloev presents the sort of grappling threat that has troubled Ige thus far. Ige’s potent punching power could prove to be the difference-maker.
Here’s the fight card for UFC Fight Night with the latest odds from Caesars Sportsbook.
UFC Fight Night card, odds
|
Alexander Volkov -160 |
Jairzinho Rozenstruik +135 |
Heavyweight |
|
Movsar Evloev -400 |
Dan Ige +310 |
Featherweight |
|
Michael Trizano -240 |
Lucas Almeida +200 |
Featherweight |
|
Karine Silva -115 |
Poliana Botelho -105 |
Women’s flyweight |
|
Alonzo Menifield -160 |
Askar Mozharov +135 |
Light heavyweight |
|
Ode Osbourne -190 |
Zarrukh Adashev +160 |
Flyweight |
UFC Fight Night viewing information
Date: June 4 | Start time: 4 p.m. ET
Location: UFC Apex — Las Vegas, Nevada
Stream: ESPN+
Prediction
Alexander Volkov vs. Jairzinho Rozenstruik: Volkov presents exactly the sort of fight that has repeatedly troubled Rozenstruik. A tall point fighter who excels at range, Volkov seeks to pick away at Rozenstruik over 25 minutes. It is a game plan that both Gane and Overeem successfully utilized against the Surinamese knockout artist. The main event fighters have made this abundantly clear. Volkov planted the seeds for an extended contest at media day and Rozenstruik expressed his desire for a first or second-round finish. You can credit some combination of Volkov’s style and chin for the fact that he has only been knocked out twice in 44 professional fights. Rozenstruik certainly has an impressive kickboxing record spanning approximately 90 fights, but he has yet to fully flesh out that game in MMA. It may not be exciting, but chances are Volkov punches and kicks his way to the judges’ hearts. Volkov via UD
