“Bigi Boy” is back, in a big way. Jairzinho Rozenstruik (11-1) helped erase the memory of his 20-second KO at the hands of Francis “The Predator” Ngannou (15-3) in May with a second-round TKO of former heavyweight champ Junior dos Santos (21-8) at UFC 252 on Saturday night. “That’s the mission, to fight for the title,” the 32-year-old from Suriname told Joe Rogan in his post-fight interview. “I hope Francis gets the chance after the fight tonight [between Stipe Miocic and Daniel Cormier] … if Francis gets the title, I want a rematch.” “I know I’m a dangerous guy in the division. Everybody ranked above me right now, I’m fighting,” he later added. It was an awkward build-up to the fight at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas for the teammates at American Top Team, and relations wouldn’t have been helped when Rozenstruik caught Dos Santos flush with a low blow at the end of the first round. The 36-year-old Brazilian had been out to show he wasn’t done yet, following back-to-back losses. He had managed to last a little bit longer than Rozenstruik against the fearsome Cameroonian Ngannou – 41 seconds longer, to be precise – in June 2019, but then suffered a second-round TKO by No 3-ranked Curtis “Razor” Blaydes (14-2, one no contest) in January. What a show of respect by @JairRozenstruik and @junior_cigano #UFC252 pic.twitter.com/VAA2OR3gz7 — ESPN MMA (@espnmma) August 16, 2020 This was the 13-time headliner Dos Santos’ first three-round fight in five years, and he was picking his shots. A tactical striking battle was playing out with Rozenstruik countering every Dos Santos jab with a low kick. But then Rozenstruik burst into life, dropping “Cigano” with a right hand, then swarming him with punches until referee Dan Miragliotta had no choice but to step in. Rozenstruik went and sat down and hugged Dos Santos against the fence afterwards – all was forgiven for that low blow, it seems. “I needed to push the pace with Junior and stop moving really backward a lot,” Rozenstruik added. “So I pushed the pace, got him there, and bam, switched stance and got him with the right and keep following up. “I go right away to throw hands with him, I know it’s a fifty-fifty fight, we are powerful guys, it’s heavyweight, if we get caught, it’s going to be done.”