Video: Suriname and Brazil collide at UFC Fight Night 189
UFC Fight Night 189 is days away and it features a main event matchup between two of the promotion’s largest athletes.
The event takes place Saturday at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas. The card streams on ESPN+.
Despite recent losses by both men, “the dream is still the same,” as one-half of the heavyweight headliner, Jairzinho Rozenstruik put it in a recent promotional video ahead of his fight against Augusto Sakai.
Rozenstruik (11-2 MMA, 5-2 UFC), who represents Suriname, has lost two of his most recent three outings, but the defeats came against top-tier talent in current UFC heavyweight champion Francis Ngannou and top contender Ciryl Gane. The losses bookend a TKO win over Junior Dos Santos in August.
Meanwhile, Sakai (15-2-1 MMA, 4-1 UFC) lost for the first time in four years, when he was defeated by Alistair Overeem at UFC Fight Night 176 in September. Prior to that fight, Sakai defeated Blagoy Ivanov, Marcin Tybura, Andrei Arlovski, and Chase Sherman to kick off his promotional tenure.
The UFC Fight Night 189 lineup includes:
MAIN CARD (ESPN+, 7 p.m. ET)
Jairzinho Rozenstruik vs. Augusto Sakai
Walt Harris vs. Marcin Tybura
Roman Dolidze vs. Laureano Staropoli
Miguel Baeza vs. Santiago Ponzinibbio
Gregory Rodrigues vs. Dusko Todorovic
Antonio Arroyo vs. Tom Breese
PRELIMINARY CARD (ESPN+, 4 p.m. ET)
Makwan Amirkhani vs. Kamuela Kirk
Montana De La Rosa vs. Ariane Lipski
Tanner Boser vs. Ilir Latifi
Muslim Salikhov vs. Francisco Trinaldo
Mason Jones vs. Alan Patrick
Manon Fiorot vs. Maryna Moroz
Sean Woodson vs. Youssef Zalal
Jordan Leavitt vs. Claudio Puelles