Las Vegas, Nevada
Everything that is great about heavyweight fighting and everything that is wrong with it was on display in the opening five minutes of the main event of UFC Vegas 28 on Saturday between Jairzinho Rozenstruik and Augusto Sakai.
For more than four minutes at Apex, the two big men circled each other cautiously, their right hands cocked but rarely coming out of the holster.
That was the bad part. But then, when Rozenstruik heard the clapper to signify 10 seconds were left in the round. He exploded and caught Sakai with a left hook and a right hand.
Sakai instantly went down, and Rozenstruik landed two big shots on the ground, forcing referee Herb Dean to shove him off. It was the kind of display of punching power that reminded everyone why the heavyweights are so popular.
No one hits harder than heavyweights and few heavyweights hit as hard as Rozenstruik, who got the second KO at 4:59 of his career.
He also stopped Alistair Overeem at 4:59, though that one came with one second left in a fight he was losing.—AP
