The UFC has found another top tier heavyweight matchup for the first quarter of their 2022 schedule. Eurosport’s Marcel Dorff reports that the promotion has booked a bout between #6 ranked Jairzinho Rozenstruik, taking on #9 ranked Marcin Tybura. The contest has not been made official by the UFC as of yet, but is expected to take place on February 26th, in Las Vegas on the main card of the Beneil Dariush vs. Islam Makhachev Fight Night event. MMA Junkie has since confirmed news of the planned fight.
For Rozenstruik (12-3), he’ll be looking to use this booking to rebound from a September loss to Curtis Blaydes back at UFC 266. After running out to a four-fight winning streak to start his Octagon career ‘Bigi Boy’ has traded wins and losses in each of his last five bouts, with wins over Junior dos Santos and Augusto Sakai alongside losses to Francis Ngannou, Ciryl Gane, and the aforementioned Blaydes.
Similarly Tybura (22-7), is entering this fight off his own recent loss—having dropped an October bout to Alexander Volkov at UFC 267. That defeat broke a run of five-straight victories with the UFC, including wins over Walt Harris, Greg Hardy, and Ben Rothwell. For both men, this meeting should provide a strong opportunity to keep them floating at the edges of the current pool of title contenders, if likely still a couple bouts away from actually being in the hunt.
UFC Vegas 49 is set to take place at the UFC’s Apex facility, one of the last of a the promotion’s run of Fight Night events at the venue before they start taking their smaller events back on the road. Outside the lightweight top contender’s bout in the main event, the card is also set to feature a middleweight fight between Makhmud Muradov and Misha Cirkunov, as well as a fight between lightweight prospects Arman Tsarukyan and Joel Alvarez.
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