UFC Fight Night 207 Preview
The UFC will be heading back to the Apex in Las Vegas on Saturday June 4th for UFC Fight Night 207. The main event will be a showdown in the heavyweight division between #7 Alexander Volkov and #8 Jairzinho Rozenstruik.
Volkov has been one win away from a potential title shot twice during his run in the UFC but he has not been able to win the big fight he needs. He will be trying to rebound from a first-round submission loss to Tom Aspinall in March. The Russian fighter is 3-2 in his last five but with a win on Saturday he can put himself right back into the title eliminator conversation.
The 33-year-old knows what he is up against on Saturday, but believes he holds the advantage. “He’s pretty dangerous. He has, as you say, power in his hands. He’s a good standup fighter, but I’ve had many of the same guys who have a lot of power in his hands,” Volkov said.
Volkov went on to say, “I believe I have good standup too, so I will try to show my best in this fight. I believe my technical skills are much better than his. Maybe I don’t have the same power in my punch, but for sure I’m more technical and for sure I have a lot of power in my kicks,” Volkov said. “For sure I will be feeling much better wrestling and grappling than him. I’m feeling it’s a good fight for me.”
The former Bellator heavyweight champion has been fighting professionally since 2009 and must win Saturday to stay in the elite conversation with the rest of the heavyweights in the rankings ahead of him. Of the six fighters ranked ahead of him, Volkov has already been defeated by four of them. A win against Rozenstruik puts him the position to make a statement win and get back in the top five.
Volkov has key victories in his career over Marcin Tybura, Alistair Overeem, Walt Harris, Fabricio Werdum, Stefan Struve and Roy Nelson. While he would be considered relatively young for the heavyweight division at 33, the time is now if he wants to make one last run at the title.
Rozenstruick is trying to rebound from unanimous decision loss to Curtis Blaydes at UFC 266 in September. He started his career 10-0 and looked like he was one win away from a title shot until he was badly KO’d by Francis Ngannou in 2020. Since that loss he has gone 2-2 with losses to Curtis Blaydes and Ciryl Gane. He like Volkov is looking at getting right back into the title picture with a win on Saturday.
The 34-year-old does not think Volkov really believes it will be a striking battle. “I don’t think he’s going to stand and strike with me,” Rozenstruik said. “I think he’s going to try to take me down, and we’ll see from there. I don’t think he’s going to try to strike with me. … He’s got a lot more reach, but it is what it is. I go in there and bring the problem.”
The Surinamese fighter knows how important a win in spectacular fashion against Volkov will be. “A win by any means necessary, but a knockout is what we’re going for,” Rozenstruik said. “We carry the power, so we just throw it.”
Rozenstruik has shown major punching power in wins over Augusto Sakai, Junior Dos Santos, Alistair Overeem and Andrei Arlovksi. A big win on Saturday will remind everyone of the fighter that took the heavyweight division by storm in 2019 and 2020.
The Rest of the Main Card:
Featherweight- #10 Dan Ige vs. #13 Movsar Evloev
Featherweight - Michael Trizano vs. Lucas Almeida
Women's Flyweight - Poliana Botelho vs. Karine Silva
Flyweight - Zarrukh Adashev vs. Ode' Osbourne
Light Heavyweight - Alonzo Menifield vs. Askar Mozharov
ESPN + Prelims:
Women's Strawweight- Felice Herrig vs. Karolina Kowalkiewicz
Lightweight - Alex da Silva Coelho vs. Joe Solecki
Featherweight -Damon Jackson vs. Daniel Argueta
Lightweight -Benoît Saint-Denis vs. Niklas Stolze
Bantamweight -Tony Gravely vs. Johnny Munoz Jr.
Flyweight - Zhalgas Zhumagulov vs. Jeff Molina
Welterweight - Andreas Michailidis vs. Rinat Fakhretdinov
Women's Flyweight -Erin Blanchfield vs. JJ Aldrich
