It doesn’t take much for Jairzinho Rozenstruik to put anybody’s lights out and Augusto Sakai learned that the hard way in the UFC Vegas 28 main event.
With a knockout on his mind, Rozenstruik was stalking Sakai for the better part of five minutes before finally trapping the Brazilian against the cage and that’s when he unleashed a well-timed left hand followed by a brutal overhand right that put his opponent down on the mat in a heap. Rozenstruik finished Sakai one punch later after he came crashing down with a hammer fist that had referee Herb Dean waving off the fight with just one second remaining in the opening round.
The stoppage came at exactly 4:59 in the first round with Rozenstruik earning his sixth win in the UFC with all of those victories coming by way of knockout.
“This is what we wanted and it played out,” Rozenstruik said about his performance. “As soon as I heard the clock, I faked him with the right and dropped him with the left and hit him with the right again.”
Following a five-round decision loss in his last fight, Rozenstruik promised a better start in this fight and he wasted no time taking the center of the octagon while walking Sakai around the cage.
Sakai was constantly circling and not providing a whole lot of offense with Rozenstruik trying to measure him up for the kind of bomb that could end the fight.
While Sakai was able to avoid much damage during those first few exchanges, he was also constantly walking in in the same direction and that allowed Rozenstruik to begin setting up his finishing sequence.
As soon as the clapper sounded to signify there were 10 seconds remaining in the round, Rozenstruik rushed forward and that’s when he caught Sakai with the fast left that set up the right hand behind it. While it was a glancing blow, Rozenstruik’s immense power was still enough to send Sakai crashing to the canvas.
The hammer fist that followed behind the punch that put Sakai on the ground was more than enough for Dean to stop the contest with Rozenstruik collecting yet another knockout victory.
While he was understandably disappointed with his last outing in a loss to Ciryl Gane, Rozenstruik proved yet again that he’s a threat to any heavyweight on the UFC roster and now he’s hoping to reclaim a top spot in the division following this latest highlight reel finish.
“Right now, everybody that’s ranked above me makes sense,” Rozenstruik said about what next for him. “I’m coming for you guys. I’m coming.”
