Aljamain Sterling believes that Herb Dean got it right.
In the main event of UFC Vegas 56, Alexander Volkov scored an early TKO victory over Jairzinho Rozenstruik, knocking him out in 2:12 seconds; however, the outcome was not without controversy. Though Rozenstruik was clearly hurt from the strikes of Volkov early, when referee Herb Dean waived the bout off, “Bigi Boy” was on his feet and immediately protesting the stoppage. But bantamweight champion Aljamain Sterling believes Dean make the correct call.
“As long as this fight lasted, it was fun,” Sterling said on his YouTube channel. “Rozenstruik had his moments, tried to go for the kill, got caught with a right hand and then got caught with a nasty uppercut against the cage. It felt like, from what I was watching, he went limp twice, and when you do that, even if you’re standing up, if you go limp, it looks like the fight is over because it looks like there’s a big disconnect between the brain and the body and you just buckled and you’re not there to respond. So it looks like you’re about to be in even more trouble. Rozenstruik recovered really quickly, but when you go back and watch the stoppage, I do not think it was a bad stoppage. I think it was only going to get worse because Volkov — that split second where [Rozenstruik] got to recover when the ref stopped the fight, if the ref doesn’t do that, Volkov stays on him, lands a couple more shots, and that’s probably even a worse finish than what it actually was.”
Unsurprisingly, Volkov agrees with Sterling, saying in his post-fight press conference that he was “ready to throw him down and continue my work” but Dean saved Rozenstruik from further damage. And for Sterling, that gets to the heart of the stoppage: Rozenstruik was tough and recovered quickly, but it’s the referee’s job to save him from himself, and Sterling believes Dean did that.
“Good thing for Rozenstruik to be able to recover quickly,” Sterling said. “That says something, that he was in good shape I would like to believe, because when you recover quickly from a hard shot, it shows that you’re in good shape… But I just think there’s a very fine line between the ref letting you live to fight another day and letting you get punished to the point where you probably won’t be able to fight for another day, because the shots and the damage you’re going to take are going to be a lot worse when it’s accumulated. So I think the ref made a good judgmental move, jumped in when he saw him go limp twice, gave him an opportunity and it was just one of those things where he got caught against the cage against a much bigger guy.
“Volkov is 6’7”. He’s an animal. Rozenstruik is 6’2”, these are big, big boys, but when they stood next to each other it was like, ‘Damn, this looks like big brother and little brother right now.’ Volkov is just a big human being, so when that guy hits you, I can only imagine what that feels like. I don’t want to imagine what that feels like… But yeah, I think that was a perfect stoppage.”
TOP STORIES
Results. Alexander Volkov makes quick work of Jairzinho Rozenstruik at UFC Vegas 56.
Results. Fabricio Andrade calls out ‘John Chicken Lineker’ after liver kick KO at ONE 158.
Fair. Alexander Volkov defends Herb Dean’s stoppage against Jairzinho Rozenstruik but adds ‘it’s not my fault anyway’.
Savage. Alonzo Menifield rips ‘chump’ Askar Mozharov after UFC Vegas 56 record controversy: ‘It fluctuated like the damn stock market’.
Haters. Jeff Molina on backlash for wearing UFC’s Pride Month shorts: ‘I just thought people would be a little more open-minded’
VIDEO STEW
UFC Vegas 56 Post Show.
UFC Vegas 56 Post-Fight Press Conference.
UFC 275 Countdown.
KSW 70 slow motion highlights.
LISTEN UP
On To The Next One. Matches to make following UFC Vegas 56.
SOCIAL MEDIA BOUILLABAISSE
Statements.
(1/2) Hi everyone. I’m kinda confused on how the fight went and I’m disappointed that it was stopped. It definitly was a troubling situation, but I was far from giving up the fight. Did someone lay flat on the ground with his eyes shut? That’s what we call a knockout. #UFCVegas56
— Jairzinho ‘BIGI BOY’ Rozenstruik (@JairRozenstruik) June 5, 2022
(2/2) Alexander and I basically just started exchanging some heavy strikes. The stuff you ‘all wanted to see! Big up to @AlexDragoVolkov for taking the fight. I’ve no noteable damage and I like to fight soon. #UFCVegas56
— Jairzinho ‘BIGI BOY’ Rozenstruik (@JairRozenstruik) June 5, 2022
Sometimes things don’t go the way you plan, but God always has a bigger and better plan. Love you all. Thank you for the support sorry couldn’t get my hand raised. Need to unplug for a little bit but promise ill be back ❤️ pic.twitter.com/inmTL88hqY
— Dan “50k” Ige (@Dynamitedan808) June 5, 2022
I will be the champion Inshallah ✊
— Movsar Evloev (@MovsarUFC) June 4, 2022
Support.
Congrats @feliceherrig on a long career that helped set an example and open doors for female competitors who will come after you you’ve given the fans many great fights
— Grand Slam Champ CrisCyborg.com (@criscyborg) June 5, 2022
Call outs.
Movsar and Ige both suck. I hope to see something special that could motivate me to fight the winner. #UFCVegas56
— Ilia Topuria (@Topuriailia) June 4, 2022
@MovsarUFC You fight shamefully! Another decision without any attempt to finish it. On top of that you don’t know how to speak. You don’t have the balls to call me out! Now everyone can really see how you run away! shamefully ♂️ ♂️ ♂️
— Ilia Topuria (@Topuriailia) June 4, 2022
Jeff Molina, stay healthy I wanna fight against you in France (September) or Abu Dhabi (October)
I gonna maul you! @ufc @Mickmaynard2 pic.twitter.com/1CRNOJu5vn— Muhammad Mokaev (@muhammadmokaev) June 6, 2022
Israel Adesanya does not want to move to boxing.
After a fight, the laaast thing I need is 75 mothafuckaz in the ring all up in my bubble tryna put cameras in my face and take selfies lol. Regardless that was a good fight, beautiful skills displayed.
— Israel Adesanya (@stylebender) June 5, 2022
That’s a pretty big win.
Won my family financial freedom https://t.co/7fY0hIdfvN
— The Diamond (@DustinPoirier) June 5, 2022
Thanks, Jon.
I freaking love you
— BONY (@JonnyBones) June 5, 2022
FIGHT ANNOUNCEMENTS
Adriano Moraes (20-3) vs. Demetrious Johnson (23-4-1); ONE Championship, Aug. 26.
FINAL THOUGHTS
Thanks for reading! See y’all tomorrow.
EXIT POLL
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