UFC Vegas 87 Preview
The UFC will be heading back to the Apex in Las Vegas, Nevada on Saturday, March 2nd for UFC Vegas 87. The main event will be in the heavyweight division between #12 Jairzinho Rozenstruick vs. undefeated prospect Shamil Gaziev.
Rozenstruick is trying to rebound from a first-round submission loss to Jailton Almeida last May. He is 3-5 since starting his UFC career 4-0. Despite his inconsistent record as of late, he will still be headlining his sixth card on Saturday.
The 35-year-old discussed how he used a 10-month layoff to improve the holes in his game. “(My layoff was) definitely relaxing and focusing on my skillset,” Rozenstruik said. “Especially taking some wrestling and jiu-jitsu classes. It became a habit, second nature and stuff like that. … In the beginning, it felt (annoying), but after a while of doing it, you’re going to start embracing it. I’m at that point.”
Rozenstruick commented on his opponent, “If the UFC selected the guy as a main event, then you know he’s a big deal,” Rozenstruik said. “He has a perfect record. You’ve got to give him his props. You’ve got to take him serious. 12-0. It’s not that he’s doing nothing. So this weekend, he’s going to get a test.”
“I’m very happy the UFC see the main event caliber in me. It’s definitely a big opportunity. I can’t wait to go in there this Saturday and do my thing. I definitely think they see me as a guy you can put there and get the job done. So I’m happy they recognize that. Now the day’s almost there for me to do my part.”
Rozenstruick has everything to lose in this fight, so he explained on what would be next for him with a win. “After this Saturday’s win, I’ll take a couple steps back,” Rozenstruik said. “I feel like in my UFC career I made a couple mistakes, a couple of missteps. I gave away a little bit of my power. So I’m focusing on getting all the puzzle pieces together. I’m finding the puzzle pieces already, so I already feel my real power again. I’m focusing on that. I want to get back close to July or August.”
The Surinamese fighter has key wins over Junior Dos Santos, Alistair Overeem and Andrei Arlovski. He was on the verge of a title shot until he ran into former champion Francis Ngannou at UFC 249 in 2020. Since then he has been inconsistent, but in the heavyweight division you are two wins away from being mentioned as a title contender, so for Rozenstruick a run back at the title starts on Saturday.
Gaziev is coming off a second round TKO at UFC 296 in December over Martin Buday. He got his start in the UFC just one fight before that on Dana White’s Contender Series two months prior. In that short amount of time he has worked his way to a UFC main event.
The MMA pundits have been critical of this main event, but Gaziev has laughed it off. “Fans are different,” Gaziev said. “Some people understand, real fans, that it’s a good thing for our division to have new blood. But some people just trash talk. They just want to write something. They write. I don’t get serious with comments. So just my advice is to be happy there is a new fighter coming and making a big statement. As you saw in my UFC debut, just watch it and enjoy.”
The 34-year-old from Bahrain has his mind on big fights. “It’s not the place where I make decisions, (but) if you ask me, of course. I want to fight (for the title) as soon as possible. Big fights will get me to the UFC gold. If UFC will tell me to do another 10 fights to reach that, I’m ready to do (those) fights also.”
The rest of the main card:
Light Heavyweight - Vitor Petrino vs. Tyson Pedro
Flyweight - #7 Alex Perez vs. #8 Muhammad Mokaev
Bantamweight - #13 Umar Nurmagomedov vs. Bekzat Almakhan
Flyweight - #9 Matt Schnell vs. #12 Steve Erceg
ESPN+ Prelims:
Middleweight - Eryk Anders vs. Jamie Pickett
Bantamweight - Aiemann Zahabi vs. Javid Basharat
Middleweight - Christian Leroy Duncan vs. Cláudio Ribeiro
Lightweight - Ľudovít Klein vs. AJ Cunningham
Lightweight - Abdul-Kareem Al-Selwady vs. Loik Radzhabov
