The questions couldn't have been easy for him, but Jairzinho Rozenstruik answered them the way he fights: Forward, directly and without hesitation.
He entered his bout in the main event of UFC 87 against unbeaten Shamil Gaziev on Saturday at Apex nominally still a contender in the heavyweight division. But after a 10-0 pro MMA start, which included four wins by KO to start his UFC career, Rozenstruik hit the skids. He was obliterated by Francis Ngannou at UFC 249 on May 9, 2020. That represented the first of five losses in his next eight fights.
He entered the bout with Gaziev having lost three of his last four, and hadn't fought in 10 months. He told KevinIole.com before the bout that the while the losses were painful, he made certain they weren't for nothing. He learned from them, he insisted.
"When there is a fight, a competition, someone is going to win and someone is going to lose," he said. "At this level of the sport, a mistake is the difference a lot of the time. But it's no problem to lose; it is a problem, though, to lose and not learn from it. I made sure I understood why I lost, and what I needed to do to correct the mistakes."
Those lessons were on display on Saturday when he took on Gaziev, who entered the bout 12-0 with 11 finishes. Certainly there were questions about him and his ability to compete at the top level of the sport, so he was a perfect match for Rozenstruik. Rozenstruik won when referee Marc Goddard stopped the bout at the end of the fourth when he overheard Gaziev telling his corner he couldn't see.
There was a brief commotion in Gaziev's corner, which was speaking Russian, and Goddard demanded to know in English what Gaziev said. When he was told, he quickly ended the fight even as the doctor was examining Gaziev.
It ended the slide and gave Rozenstruik one of his more impressive victories.
Gaziev took Rozenstruik down late in Round 1, but "Bigi Boy" showed in that round that he'd absorbed the lessons that Coach Mo Lawal and his staff were teaching. Rozenstruik was backing straight up early and that was playing into Gaziev's hands. But Rozenstruik also kept a hard jab in Gaziev's face and it paid off.
"It was amazing, the time that I had to work on a lot of things," Rozenstruik said. "You saw my work today. ... I didn't want to rush to knock him out. My goal was patience, and that paid off."
This was a knockout that Rozenstruik, a heavy-handed South American from Suriname, set up slowly but surely. He popped the jab early, then began to mix in the right hand. As he was having success with the 1-2, he would either hook of the jab or lead with the hook. Suddenly, it was clear that not only was Rozenstruik beating the fight out of Gaziev, he was breaking him down and slowing him down.
Gaziev's face was covered with blood, welts and bruises by the middle of the third round. It was clear between Rounds 3 and 4 that Gaziev was in trouble, but Rozenstruik still stuck with the plan.
"Me and King Mo have been working on specific things, and this was a piece of it," Rozenstruik said of remaining patient and setting things up. "My corner gave me the right instruction: Stick to the jab, keep moving forward. I was prepared to do that as long as it took. I saw it was draining him and eventually he gave up."
Rozenstruik stil harbors dreams of winning the world championship, and while it may not be among the most likely things to occur in the UFC in 2024, his power always gives him a shot to win. But if he can make it harder for opponents to take him off of his feet and neutralize his power, then he increases the likelihood of fulfilling his dream.
Saturday's win was only one step, but it halted a discouraging slide and was proof that, yes, he still could win at the sport's top level.
Scorecards in Rozenstruik-Gaziev fight.