After a week off, the UFC returns to the Apex this Saturday night with another great Fight Night card. With big fights in a lot of the smaller weight classes holding the spotlight lately, UFC Fight Night: Rozenstruik vs. Sakai will bring on the big guys.
Two of the top heavyweights in the world are sure to deliver some fireworks in a main event with a lot on the line in one of the toughest divisions in the sport. Plus, two promising middleweights will go toe to toe and two more top heavyweights will look to steal the show and prove that they should be the ones in the main event.
Middleweight bout: Roman Dolidze vs. Laureano Staropoli
The middleweight division is stacked with talent so there are bound to be some tough young fighters waiting to crack into the top 15. Dolidze is one of them. The 32-year-old sports an 8-1 record with four knockouts and three submissions. He’ll be coming off of his first loss here so it will be interesting to see how he bounces back. A win tomorrow night could put him very close to cracking the rankings.
He has a tough test ahead of him though as the 28-year-old Staropoli comes in with a 9-3 record. He’s also well-rounded, with five knockouts and two submission victories. However, Staropoli is actually coming off of back-to-back losses so he’s likely going to be desperate to stop the bleeding. There will certainly be a lot on the line for both fighters in this bout.
Heavyweight bout: Walt Harris vs. Marcin Tybura
So often when you look at the top fighters in the UFC, their records will have far more wins than losses. That is not always the case in the heavyweight division, where every fighter can end a bout with one punch. That explains how Harris can come into this bout with a 13-9 record, coming off of back-to-back losses and still be the eight-ranked fighter in the class. Harris obviously has knockout power as all 13 of his wins have come in that fashion. He’s going to be looking to bounce back after two tough knockout losses though against two more of the top heavyweights in the world.
He has a very tough test ahead of him though as the 11th-ranked Tybura comes in with a 21-6 record and a four-fight win streak. Not only does Tybura have tremendous power in his hands, with eight knockouts, but he also has a strong grappling game that has earned him six submission victories. That’s a skillset that we have not seen from Harris and could factor heavily into Tybura’s gameplan in this one.
Heavyweight bout: Jairzinho Rozenstruik vs. Augusto Sakai
Two top 10 heavyweights going toe to toe, throwing hands and looking for a future title shot is always going to be fun. That is exactly what we have in this main event. Two knockout artists are going to look to put on a show and set themselves up for a bight fight in the future.
For Rozentruik, this is nothing new. He was well on his way to the top of the heavyweight division before dropping two out of three to current champ Francis Ngannou and third-ranked contender Cyril Gane. Still, Rozenstruik sits at #6 and is likely just a couple of wins away from a huge opportunity. We know he has the power to do it, but will this be his night.
As for Sakai, this isn’t exactly new to him either. His last bout was a loss in a main event against the legendary Alistair Overeem. Prior to that, he had won six in a row and currently sits at 15-2 with 11 knockouts. He absolutely has the power to stop any opponent with just one shot as well. This may just come down to a matter of who lands first.
UFC Fight Night: Rozenstruik vs. Sakai will be held Saturday, June 5 at 7 PM ET. Fight fans can watch live on ESPN+.