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UFC on ESPN 7 Results: Jairzinho Rozenstruik Beats Alistair Overeem Via Knockout

Paul Kasabian

Jairzinho Rozenstruik landed one of the strongest right hands in recent memory in a late fifth-round knockout of Alistair Overeem at UFC on ESPN 7 on Saturday.

Overeem had the upper hand for most of the fight, landing a couple of takedowns and delivering a few strong blows. Per ESPN's Ariel Helwani, Overeem was winning 4-0 on all three scorecards at the time of the knockout.

However, Rozenstruik had other ideas in landing a knockout in the final four seconds, busting Overeem's lip in the process.

Below you can find the UFC on ESPN 7 results as well a recap of the main event.

             

Main Card

Heavyweight: Jairzinho Rozenstruik def. Alistair Overeem (KO, 4:56 of fifth round)

Catchweight (120.5 pounds): Marina Rodriguez vs. Cynthia Calvillo (majority draw: 29-28, 28-28, 28-28)

Heavyweight: Stefan Struve def. Ben Rockwell (TKO, 4:57 of second round)

Women's Bantamweight: Aspen Ladd def. Yana Kunitskaya (TKO, 0:33 of third round)

Bantamweight: Cody Stamann vs. Song Yadong (majority draw: 29-27, 28-28, 28-28)

Bantamweight: Rob Font def. Ricky Simon (unanimous decision: 29-28, 29-28, 30-27)

               

Preliminary Card

Welterweight: Tim Means def. Thiago Alves (submission, 2:38 of first round) 

Featherweight: Billy Quarantillo vs. Jacob Kilburn (submission, 3:18 of second round)

Catchweight (148.5 pounds): Bryce Mitchell def. Matt Sayles (submission, 4:20 of first round)

Lightweight: Joe Solecki def. Matt Wiman (unanimous decision: 30-26, 30-26, 30-27)

              

Early Preliminary Card

Woman's Strawweight: Virna Jandiroba def. Mallory Martin (submission, 1:16 of second round)

Middleweight: Makhmud Muradov def. Trevor Smith (KO, 3:09 of third round)

        

Heavyweight: Jairzinho Rozenstruik def. Alistair Overeem

Rozenstruik set the tone early by not touching gloves before the fight.

But that didn't affect Overeem, who landed a takedown less than two minutes into the bout.

Former UFC heavyweight champion Daniel Cormier, who provided color commentary for ESPN, gave Overeem credit for a "real technical" takedown, noting Overeem had done that with power in the past. It was just the fifth takedown of Overeem's UFC career, per the ESPN broadcast. He landed a couple of elbows to Rozenstruik's head as well.

The second round was not nearly as eventful. Overeem had the upper hand again, but Rozenstruik seemed to regain some momentum. He took a big left from Overeem late in the second frame but was unfazed.

Overeem landed more shots, including a big right hand in the third, but Rozenstruik took it once again. He scored another takedown, but Rozenstruik survived and took some huge shots from Overeem near the end of the round.

The tide started to turn in the fourth. Rozenstruik landed a flurry of strikes, but Overeem survived. Rozenstruik kept his aggressiveness up, though, and even attempted a flying knee.

Overeem was tired in the fifth round, as ESPN's Brett Okamoto noted:

Still, the result was surprising. Rozenstruik looked as though he would run out of time before using a left jab to set up the powerful right.

Rozenstruik is 10-0 for his professional career, including 4-0 in the UFC. Each of the last four bouts occurred in 2019.

After the match, he said he wants Francis Ngannou next, per Helwani. Ngannou is 14-3 overall and ranked as the No. 2 heavyweight contender. Rozenstruik is 14th but sure to move up after Saturday.

Ngannou responded on Twitter:

Overeem fell to 45-18 with one no-contest. He was tied as the No. 6 heavyweight contender with Alexander Volkov pre-fight. 

   

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