A key heavyweight bout between Jairzinho Rozenstruik and Ciryl Gane has been booked for March 13.
According to French outlet, La Seur, Gane has gotten his wish and will battle Rozenstruik in March. The fight will likely serve as the co-main event.
Jairzinho Rozenstruik returned to the win column at UFC 252 as he TKO’d Junior dos Santos in the second round. Before that, he suffered his first career loss as he was knocked out in 20 seconds by Francis Ngannou. In the UFC he has also beaten, Alistair Overeem, Andrei Arlovski, Allen Crowder, and Junior Albini all by knockout.
Ciryl Gane, meanwhile, is also coming off a TKO win over dos Santos. Gane picked up the biggest win of his career at UFC 256 and is now 4-0 in the UFC. The Frenchman is the former TKO heavyweight champion and won the belt in his first professional bout. He had made his UFC debut at 3-0 and holds notable wins over Tanner Boser and Raphael Pessoa.
After Gane beat dos Santos, he said a fight with Rozenstruik made sense and he has gotten his wish.
“This makes sense,” Gane told MMA Junkie in December after his win. “He is not booked, so we tried to do it for January if I’m not mistaken, but with Christmas he needs time, so we’ll see. I don’t know when exactly, but I think it’s gonna be that guy.
“There aren’t that many people above me,” he continued. “There are fights already booked and Rozenstruik isn’t, so I think it’s probably with this guy. But if you ask me who I want – anyone. I’m on my way, so let’s go.”
With the addition of Jairzinho Rozenstruik vs. Ciryl Gane, the March 13 event is as follows:
- Leon Edwards vs. Khamzat Chimaev
- Jairzinho Rozenstruik vs. Ciryl Gane
- Davey Grant vs. Jonathan Martinez
- Matthew Semelsberger vs. Jason Witt
- Jinh Yu Frey vs. Gloria de Paula
