Tai Tuivasa is getting another homecoming fight.
Tuivasa, the heavy-hitting Australian heavyweight, is set to meet Jairzinho Rozenstruik on Aug. 17 at UFC 305 in Perth, Australia. Two people with knowledge of the situation confirmed the booking to MMA Junkie after Tuivasa revealed the matchup in a video on Alex Pereira’s YouTube channel.
It’ll be Tuivasa’s sixth UFC appearance on Australian soil. He’s 2-3 in his previous five bouts there.
Tuivasa, 31, has long been a UFC fan favorite for his stand-and-bang style of fighting, but he’s in dire need of a victory after losing four in a row. At one point, Tuivasa (14-7 MMA, 8-7 UFC) strung together a five-fight winning streak and appeared to be one more victory away from a title shot, but a knockout loss to Ciryl Gane in September 2022 kicked off the worst skid of his career. Since then, Tuivasa also has been finished by Sergei Pavlovich, Alexander Volkov, and most recently he was choked out by Marcin Tybura this past March.
Rozenstruik, 36, is coming off a fourth-round TKO win over Shamil Gaziev in a headlining performance this past March. Rozenstruik (14-5 MMA, 8-5 UFC) has won two of his past three bouts and is 4-5 since starting his career 10-0 throuh 2019.
With the addition, here is the latest UFC 305 lineup:
- Champ Dricus Du Plessis vs. Israel Adesanya – for middleweight title
- Steve Erceg vs. Kai Kara-France
- Tom Nolan vs. Alex Reyes
- Tereza Bleda vs. Casey O’Neill
- Jairzinho Rozenstruik vs. Tai Tuivasa
For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC 305.
