Tomorrow in the main event of UFC Charlotte, we are going to see a banger between two heavyweight finishers. Top ranked contenders Jairzinho “Bigi Boy” Rozenstruik (13-4) and Jailton Almeida (18-2) will face off as they look to take a step towards title contention.
For Jailton Almeida, he’s looked unstoppable inside the octagon. While he’s slightly undersized for the traditional heavyweight, he hasn’t let that slow him down. Thus far, he’s 4-0 with four finishes inside the octagon. One of those fights did take place at light heavyweight.
He’s shown off his sensational grappling and dominant ground and pound. However, he’s going to have a tricky challenge in front of him tomorrow when he takes on one of the best strikers in the division in Rozenstruik.
In 2020, Rozenstruik was unbeaten at 10-0 and looked like he was on the cusp of a UFC title shot. He called for a fight with Francis Ngannou and unfortunately was knocked out in 20 seconds. Starting with that fight, he went just 2-4 in his next six fights.
However, in his last fight, he made a big statement. He took on Chris Daukaus and knocked him out in 23 seconds. Proving to everyone that Bigi Boy still has a lot left in the tank.
UFC Charlotte Prediction
I think this fight is relatively easy to analyze. It’s really going to come down to the opening minutes. We’ve seen Rozenstruik fight with hesitancy at times during his UFC career and when he does, it costs him deeply. He needs to get off to a fast start.
If he starts slow and lets Almeida lead the dance, he’s going to be in trouble. For Almeida, he needs to start fast with a lot of cage pressure. Once he gets his opponents to the mat, nobody has been able to survive. Whether it’s submissions or his ground and pound, him getting fights to the floor often means the end is near.
Rozenstruik has good takedown defense and it’s going to be tested tomorrow. It wouldn’t shock me if Rozenstruik pulled out a hail marry knockout, however, I like Almeida in this matchup. I think the grappling is going to be too much and he gets a second round stoppage moving to 5-0 in the UFC.
Prediction: Jailton Almeida by TKO – Round 2