Will the Francis Ngannou-Jairzinho Rozenstruik winner sneak into a title shot?
If it feels like we’ve been talking about [autotag]Francis Ngannou[/autotag] vs. [autotag]Jairzinho Rozenstruik[/autotag] forever, well, we kind of have. Rozenstruik (10-0 MMA, 4-0 UFC) asked for this fight shortly after knocking off Alistair Overeem in December. Ngannou (14-3 MMA, 9-2 UFC) wasted little time obliging. This was originally scheduled to headline UFC Columbus on March 28, which was the first domestic event the promotion had to cancel during the pandemic.
While we’ve had to wait longer than expected for this bout, we suspect it will be worth the prolonged anticipation. These two fighters’ circumstances haven’t changed: Ngannou is looking to cap his rags-to-riches-back-to-rags-back-to-riches tale by knocking off Rozenstruik and presumably getting the next title shot. Rozenstruik burst onto the scene last year and won four times to put himself in the spot Ngannou occupied about three years ago.
And with UFC president Dana White beginning to show impatience with champion Stipe Miocic, who has made it clear his firefighting job is going to be his priority so long as coronavirus is a thing, the winner of this bout could find themselves in a title situation sooner rather than later.
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