Volkov vs Rozenstruik Preview

• Where: UFC Apex, Nevada, Las Vegas
• When: June 4, Saturday, 10 pm ET

Alexander Volkov and Jairzinho Rozenstruik lead the UFC Fight Night 207. These two guys are in a must-win position, otherwise, their status in the heavyweight division will be endangered. Not so long ago, they were considered elite and potential title challengers. Rozenstruik fought Ngannou, and Volkov met Gane, but losses in those and several other events put them on the backfoot when it comes to their rise in the rankings. In the meantime, both fighters suffered losses in their most recent trips to the octagon, which puts additional pressure before Saturday’s spectacle.

Volkov vs Rozenstruik Preview

Alexander Volkov

The big Russian used to be Bellator’s and M1 heavyweight champion. But since coming to the UFC, Volkov can’t gain any consistency. As soon as he wins a fight or two in a row comes defeat. He was in the title mix several times but didn’t get the chance to meet the best of the best due to losses against, for example, Derrick Lewis, Curtis Blaydes, or Gane.

Volkov’s most recent clash was against Tom Aspinal at the UFC Fight Night 204 this March in London. Drago lost that one in the first round via a straight armbar, severely deteriorating his reputation. There are already some talks among the analysts that he isn’t an elite heavyweight and that his career is past its peak.

The Russian is a kickboxer, and his extreme size allows him to inflict very powerful and harmful kicks and punches. If he gets into the rhythm and maintains to keep the gap between himself and the rival, Volkov usually wins. But if he fails to create the separation and ends up on the ground, things get messy, because he doesn’t have the skillet for grappling and wrestling.

Jairzinho Rozenstruik

Bigi Boy began his MMA career perfectly, winning ten straight battles, only one not finishing with a KO. But after that, he ran into Francis Ngannou, who KOd Rozenstruik in 20 seconds. From that moment on, he subsequently posts wins and losses. 

At first, Rozenstrui bounced back with a victory over Junior dos Santos, then lost to Gane, before beating Augusto Sakai and losing to Curtis Blaydes in the most recent clash he had back at the UFC 266 in September.

Like Volkov, he too relies upon kickboxing; only he is much quicker and more explosive. Even though he doesn’t possess Volkov’s technique, Rozenstruik finds his way around pretty well, but that is due to his fantastic KO power, besides Ngannou’s and Lewis’s, the third most powerful in the division. His wrestling skills are modest but better than Volkov’s.

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Volkov vs Rozenstruk Prediction

Rozenstruik has the possibility of having occasional bursts, and each time he explodes, the rival usually gets knocked out. Now knowing that Volkov isn’t as fast to avoid that, we really do believe that Bigi Boy has solid chances of making a surprise. As said, he isn’t showing some shinny examples of grappling, but on the other hand, he behaves on the mat better than Volkov. That’s why, opposite most analysts, our pick here is Rozenstruik.

Our Verdict: Rozenstruik wins

Volkov vs Rozenstruik Odds