Alistair Overeem is a true combat sports legend. He’s one of the best heavyweight fighters never to win a UFC title, but the former K-1 and PRIDE king is still a fan-favourite. The Dutch great has very high-level striking and is capable of mixing it up with the best of the division. Sadly, it doesn’t look like he’ll ever get his hands on the belt.
At the age of 39, Overeem doesn’t have long left at the highest level. He’s suffered some brutal stoppages in recent year but was hoping for a final surge at the title. In short, he was riding a two-fight win streak so he knew that it was now or never. A defeat would effectively end his chances at UFC gold.
He took on Jairzinho Rosenstruik in Washington D.C where his dream was brutally crushed. Not only was he beaten, but he was left hideously disfigured. Check out Overeem’s mangled face below. We warn you, it’s definitely not for the faint-hearted.
All it takes is one for @JairRozenstruik 😨 pic.twitter.com/MRTg1mNpch
— ESPN MMA (@espnmma) December 8, 2019
Harsh
Overeem was actually winning this fight before it got to the final four seconds of the fourth round. But MMA is a cruel sport. it doesn’t matter if you’re dominating until the fight is over, as we’ve seen so many times in the past. Overeem used his underrated wrestling game to great effect in the early rounds. Jairzinho didn’t know what to do off of his back.
But then in the fourth round, the Suriname fighter came alive and started throwing heavy shots. He landed a left before smashing Overeem with a brutal right hand that sent the Dutchman to the ground. Overeem actually got back to his feet, however, Dan Miragliotta had seen enough. The fighter’s lip was left shredded and the referee decided to protect him from himself.
Jairzinho extends his record to 10-0 and called out Francis Ngannou. He has work to do, but this man is a very exciting prospect.
The moment Alistair Overeem lost his lip to the right hand pic.twitter.com/3YThcV9Bpb
— Troydan (@Troydan) December 8, 2019
Elsewhere
This was an extremely strange card. Draws are rare in MMA but we saw two in Washington. First of all, Cody Stamann and highly-touted Chinese prospect Song Yadong scrapped it out to a majority draw. Then Marina Rodriguez and Cynthia Calvillo repeated the result. Calvillo came in overweight but Rodriguez made her pay with vicious strikes.
However, Calvillo was able to battle back in the third round to outgrapple her opponent and get 10-8 on two of the judges’ cards. In short, this was enough for her to avoid losing the fight. Meanwhile, Stefan Struve was brutally kicked to the groin twice. To cap it off, his opponent, Ben Rothwell, then TKOed him. It was a miserable comeback for ‘The Skyscraper’ who had returned from retirement.
The next time Alistair Overeem wakes up Santa will be giving him a new lip for christmas. #Goodnight pic.twitter.com/z6gMCAI9DS
— Bulljive Media (@BulljiveMedia) December 8, 2019
Full Results
For full results from a night of action in Washington D.C, see below:
Main Card
Jairzinho Rozenstruik def. Alistair Overeem via KO.
Marina Rodriguez vs. Cynthia Calvillo declared a majority draw
Ben Rothwell def. Stefan Struve via TKO.
Aspen Ladd def. Yana Kunitskaya via TKO.
Cody Stamann vs. Song Yadong is declared a majority draw.
Rob Font def. Ricky Simon via unanimous decision
Undercard
Tim Means def. Thiago Alves via submission (guillotine choke).
Billy Quarantino def. Jacob Kilburn via submission (triangle choke).
Bryce Mitchell def. Matt Sayles via submission (Twister).
Joe Solecki def. Matt Wiman via unanimous decision.
Virna Jandiroba def. Mallory Martin via submission (rear-naked choke).
Makhmud Muradov def. Trevor Smith via KO (punch).
