Tomorrow night in the main event of UFC Vegas 56, we are going to see a pivotal matchup in the heavyweight division. Top ten contenders will battle it out as “Drago” Alexander Volkov (34-10) takes on “Bigi Boy” Jairzinho Rozenstruik (12-3).
When the calendar turned over to 2020, many were looking at Rozenstruik as a future UFC champion. He was a perfect 10-0 and he was 4-0 inside the octagon with four knockouts. After this start, he asked for a fight with Francis Ngannou.
Unfortunately, he was knocked out in 20 seconds. Since that loss, he’s gone 2-2 and both losses, he drew criticism for his lack of aggressiveness. There’s a lot of questions that Bigi Boy needs to answer at UFC Vegas 56.
Alexander Volkov was another man who was once considered to be a challenger for the title. Drago started 4-0 in the UFC and got a fight with Derrick Lewis. He dominated Lewis for the better part of three rounds, but was knocked out in the final 15 seconds.
Since that loss to Lewis, he’s gone 4-3 inside the octagon. His last fight was at UFC London when he was submitted by Tom Aspinall.
UFC Vegas 56 Prediction
This heavyweight main event is a tricky one. On one hand, the UFC is booking this as a fight between two guys with 33 combined knockouts. While that’s true, this is also a bout between two guys who can make you really scratch your head.
Rozenstruik has great striking and unbelievable power. However, his lack of aggressiveness and passivity in fights has cost him over and over again. If he’s not aggressive and doesn’t push forward, it’s easy to see him get outpointed.
With Volkov, one day he looks like a world beater (see the Alistair Overeem performance). However, the next day he can look stiff and in those days he looks like an average UFC heavyweight. In predicting this fight, I’m going to go with my gut.
I think Rozenstruik can easily land a big shot over the top that puts Volkov out. However, I like Volkov by a decision here. I don’t see him putting Bigi Boy away. However, I think he’ll play on the outside and mix in some clinch work to win some rounds and ultimately bag a decision.