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Alistair Overeem faced Jairzinho Rozenstruik in a five-round main event matchup in December of last year.
MMA legend Overeem outscored Rozenstruik for almost the entirety of the contest, until the final seconds of the bout when the latter caught the Dutch fighter with a brutal right hand to the face.
Rozenstruik’s monstrous punch ripped apart Overeem’s lip and knocked him down, following which, referee Dan Miragliotta immediately stepped in to wave the fight off.
Alistair Overeem continues his pursuit of a rematch against Jairzinho Rozenstruik
The aftermath of the fight has witnessed Overeem consistently assert that he was robbed of a victory as the stoppage, in his opinion, was premature.
The MMA community has been divided with the result as well. Many of the fans are still discussing whether or not the referee was correct in stopping the fight with just four seconds left in the fifth and final round.
Overeem notably enjoyed a clear lead in the judges’ scorecards until the stoppage. In fact, certain sections of the combat sports world believe that the Dutch fighter would have likely survived the remaining four seconds of the matchup and walked away with a decision victory.
On that note, Alistair Overeem has once again called out Jairzinho Rozenstruik for a rematch.
Overeem put forth a tweet that read:
“Let’s run it back @ufc”
The tweet was accompanied by a photograph of his fight against Rozenstruik with both fighters as well as referee Dan Miragliotta in the frame.
Alistair Overeem has previously stated that he strongly disagrees with referee Dan Miragliotta’s decision to stop the fight immediately after the knockdown with only four seconds left to go.
Overeem putting forth the tweet with himself, Rozenstruik, and Miragliotta in the same frame has set the MMA community abuzz with anticipation regarding a potential rematch between the two Heavyweights.
Early stoppages and Alistair Overeem’s current position in the UFC Heavyweight rankings
The sport of MMA has often been witness to many early stoppages by referees. The officials have been criticized for depriving a fighter of getting a fair chance to make a comeback and robbing the fans of viewing a decisive ending to the fight.
In the context of Overeem’s fight against Rozenstruik, the former hadn’t completely lost consciousness despite being knocked down by the Surinamese fighter’s thunderous punch.
That, in turn, has led the vast majority of MMA fans and pundits to believe that the UFC could potentially book a rematch between Overeem and Rozenstruik to settle the score once and for all.
Moreover, Alistair Overeem is presently on a two-fight winning streak and emphatically stopped both his opponents via TKO. The belief is that he could be just about two or three victories away from another shot at the UFC Heavyweight Title.
Which fighter do you think would win the rematch – Alistair Overeem or Jairzinho Rozenstruik? Sound off in the comments.
