The UFC is working on their first quarter of fights for 2025 and today we learned of a big time heavyweight matchup that’s being added to the books. MMA Mania reported earlier today that former interim title challenger Sergei Pavlovich (18-3) will be taking on fellow top contender “Bigi Boy” Jairzinho Rozenstruik (15-5). The bout is scheduled to go down on February 1st.
Starting with Bigi Boy, he finds himself back inside the top ten in the rankings after his recent stretch. Rozenstruik has won two fights in a row for the first time since he started his career 10-0. When Rozenstruik was 10-0, he was knocked out by Francis Ngannou.
Starting with the Ngannou fight, he went just 3-5 in his next eight fights. However, he’s really turned things around over the last couple of years. Dating back to December 2022, he’s 3-1 in his last four fights with the lone loss coming against Jailton Almeida. He’s slowly climbing his way back into the UFC heavyweight title picture.
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We are just about a year removed from Sergei Pavlovich being looked at as the scariest man in the UFC. Last November at MSG, Pavlovich made the walk to fight for the interim heavyweight title against Tom Aspinall. Entering the bout, Pavlovich had won six fights in a row all by first round knockout.
His knockouts included Curtis Blaydes, Tai Tuivasa, and Derrick Lewis. That said, he was knocked out in the first round by Tom Aspinall. He returned at UFC Saudi Arabia to face fellow Russian Alexander Volkov. Pavlovich really struggled with the distance in that fight and lost a clear decision.
These two heavyweight contenders are going in opposite directions, but I feel like Pavlovich is still going to be the betting favorite in this one.