"I fight him again, I'm going to finish him" - Alistair Overeem wants to avenge loss against Jairzinho Roenstruik

Alistair Overeem
Alistair Overeem

Alistair Overeem has revenge on his mind. After spectacularly finishing fellow heavyweight Walt Hariss in the main event of UFC on ESPN 8, "The Reem" now wants to avenge his knockout loss against Jairzinho Rozenstruik.

When Rozenstruik and Overeem clashed inside the Octagon in the main event of UFC on ESPN: Overeem vs. Rozenstruik, 'The Bigi Boy' threw a last moment haymaker that caught Overeem flush on the face, finishing him with four seconds to go in the fifth and final round. Overeem couldn't possibly forget the scars that the violent knockout left on his lips which were split right open and required multiple stitches to fix.

Is a rematch the right way to go for Alistair Overeem?

They say one should strike the iron while it's hot and there's no better time for Alistair Overeem avenge his loss against Jairzinho Rozenstruik than now. Rozenstruik's hype train was brought to a screeching halt by possible title contender Francis Ngannou when the pair fought at UFC 249 on May 9.

Ngannou knocked Rozenstruik out cold in 20 seconds of the first round, handing him the first defeat of his career. On the contrary, Alistair Overeem is on fire. He bounced back from the defeat against Rozenstruik in style and is now looking to face a top-ranked opponent in the hopes of one last shot at the most coveted UFC gold; and Rozenstruik should be the perfect opponent for him. If Overeem manages to get past Rozenstruik, he will definitely be right up there in consideration for a title shot in the near future.

Appearing on the Luke Thomas Show on Sirius XM’s Fight Nation, Overeem said that Rozenstruik got lucky the last time they fought because of a wrong stoppage but he will definitely finish Bigi Boy in a potential rematch.

“I’m not dissatisfied about the Rozenstruik performance. We schooled the guy. We were up all five rounds, it was just like one, or actually it was two punches that he connected. In my opinion a wrong stoppage, the ref should have never jumped in and when he jumped in it was zero seconds left. I thought I actually won that fight and then it was like hey (expletive), they stopped it, TKO? And then you have Rozenstruik talking about it. He KO’d me, he KO’d me. That guy got lucky and I would love to run it back with him because (if) I fight him again, I’m gonna finish him. One hundred percent."

Quick Links

Edited by Anurag Mitra