“I changed a lot of things — training habits — to get the results we wanted, that we got in 2024,” he said when asked to pinpoint what changed last year to help him return to his winning ways. “There were a couple of things: one of my coaches, one of my team, one of my staff. As I mentioned, training habits, getting back some old stuff I used to do.”
While he wasn’t overly keen on diving into the details of the changes that have taken place behind the closed gym doors, the 36-year-old finisher had a much greater willingness to share his thoughts when the subject shifted to the man he’ll share the Octagon with this weekend.
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“‘Yes, let’s do it!’” he said with a smile, recalling his reaction to being offered this weekend’s bout with Pavlovich, who enters the contest stationed at No. 4 in the rankings. „That’s where we wanna go. I want to get myself back up there in the Top 5, put myself back in the conversation for the title, be a champion, of course, so getting this matchup was a huge chance, a huge step up, so I said ‘yes’ right away.”
Pavlovich heads into Saturday’s matchup on a two-fight skid, having fallen to Tom Aspinall when the two faced off for the interim heavyweight title at UFC 295 in New York City before dropping a unanimous decision to Alexander Volkov last summer when the UFC made its initial foray to Riyadh. The setbacks snapped a six-fight run of first-round finishes for the burly Russian powerhouse, leaving many to wonder if he’s in the midst of a tailspin.
But Rozenstruik isn’t one of those people.
