UFC 252 live blog: Junior Dos Santos vs. Jairzinho Rozenstruik

This is the UFC 252 live blog for Junior Dos Santos vs. Jairzinho Rozenstruik, a heavyweight main card bout for Saturday’s fight card at UFC APEX in Las Vegas.

Dos Santos has lost his two most recent fights, suffering knockout losses against Francis Ngannou and Curtis Blaydes. Rozenstruik’s most recent appearance ended with a knockout loss to Ngannou.

Check out the UFC 252 live blog below.

Round 1: Dan Miragliotta is the third man in the cage for this heavyweight fight. Rozenstruik comes out and takes the center of the cage while JDS is doing his traditional bouncing on the outside. Rozenstruik lands a solid low kick to get things started. JDS with a body shot. Rozenstruik is definitely looking to counter here and both men are throwing one at a time. JDS goes high with a kick that Rozenstruik blocks. Good right hand from dos Santos but Rozenstruik lands a decent counter. Neither man is committing to their shots so far. JDS lands a left hook that wobbles Rozenstruik for a second. Rozenstruik has been throwing a number of low kicks and JDS is going to need to come up with a plan for those. Conversely, dos Santos has targeted the body with jabs and those are landing well. Rozenstruik catches a kick from JDS and blitzes him and dos Santos is in full retreat. He circles out a big left lands for dos Santos. Things are starting to open up now. Another low kick from Rozenstruik lands cleanly on the cup and the action stops briefly. Dos Santos goes for a spin but Rozenstruik avoids and a close round draws to a close. Could go either way but we’ll favor the low kicks from Rozenstruik.

MMAFighting scores the round 10-9 Rozenstruik.

Round 2: Rozenstruik seems to have a small mouse under his right eye and he comes out and charges JDS but eats a check hook for his troubles. Rozenstruik is really active with his kicks and that is letting him score points. Right hand to the body from JDS. For heavyweight, this is a pretty tactical striking match. Dos Santos is now starting to pressure and lands a nice right hand. Both men land sharp jabs on each other and they reset. Now Rozenstruik is the one advancing and JDS is bouncing on the outside. Lots of feints from both men and one of them opens up a clean right hand from dos Santos. Rozenstruik advancing but not throwing, just looking to counter. JDS ducks downa nd nearly eats a shot for it butt he’s able to slip. Rozenstruik lands a strong righthand and dos Santos is in retreat. It seems like Rozenstruik has now decided he doesn’t much care about dos Santos’ power and he’s starting to force the issue. Rozenstruik lands a left hook, right hook combo with JDS along the fence that drops JDS! Dos Santos turns his back and Rozenstruik is hammering him with dos Santos trying to get back up. A left hook lands on the jaw and drops Dos Santos again and Miragliotta steps in to waive it off.

OFFICIAL RESULT: Jairzinho Rozenstruik defeats Junior dos Santos by TKO (punches) at 3:47 of Round 2.