The UFC has revealed that a heavyweight clash between knockout artists Francis Ngannou and Jairzinho Rozenstruik will headline UFC Columbus.
ESPN’s Brett Okamoto confirmed the news late Thursday night. Ngannou vs. Rozenstruik will headline a UFC Fight Night event on March 28 at Nationwide Arena in Columbus, Ohio.
Check out the news below.
Breaking: Ask and you shall receive. Jairzinho Rozenstruik (@JairRozenstruik) vs. Francis Ngannou (@francis_ngannou) will headline UFC Fight Night on March 28 in Columbus, per sources. The fight Jairzinho wanted, coming off a 4-0 run in 2019. More info coming to @espn. pic.twitter.com/Crfm4yFcuN
advertisement – continue reading below— Brett Okamoto (@bokamotoESPN) December 13, 2019
“Breaking: Ask and you shall receive. Jairzinho Rozenstruik ( @JairRozenstruik ) vs. Francis Ngannou ( @francis_ngannou ) will headline UFC Fight Night on March 28 in Columbus, per sources. The fight Jairzinho wanted, coming off a 4-0 run in 2019. More info coming to @espn.”
Rozenstruik called out Ngannou last weekend after he knocked out Alistair Overeem in the main event of UFC DC. Ngannou acknowledged Rozenstruik’s callout and said he was open to the fight. The UFC matchmakers evidently liked the idea of the fight as well and booked it almost immediately after Rozenstruik called Ngannou out.
Ngannou has been hoping to get a fight for a few months now but has had trouble getting an opponent to agree to fight him. There were rumors that Ngannou could fight Alexander Volkov but the UFC apparently likes the idea of the Rozenstruik fight better and decided to book it instead.
Ngannou (14-3) is 9-2 overall in the UFC with all nine of his wins coming by way of stoppage. He is riding a three-fight win streak at the moment with knockout wins over Junior dos Santos, Cain Velasquez, and Curtis Blaydes. Quite frankly, Ngannou deserves to fight for the title. But with the UFC hoping to book the trilogy between UFC heavyweight champion Stipe Miocic and Daniel Cormier, Ngannou decided to take another fight and stay busy instead of waiting around.
Rozenstruik (10-0) is easily the most impressive newcomer to the UFC roster in 2019. After making his Octagon debut back in February of this year, he’s already a perfect 4-0 with knockout wins over Overeem, Andrei Arlovski, Allen Crowder, and Junior Albini. If he can go out there and beat Ngannou, he would be in line to get a heavyweight title shot.
Who do you think will win the UFC Columbus main event between Francis Ngannou and Jairzinho Rozenstruik?