Jairzinho Rosenstruik is looking to get into title contention soon as he tries to get a winning streak going with his main event fight at UFC Fight Night, the Heavyweight is one of the big challengers in the division and is currently making his mark by challenging the Top 5 Ranked fighters in the division.

Jairzinho is a skilled Kickboxer and has the experience under his belt to get a title shot not too far away from now.

Ahead of his fight with Jailton Almeida, Jairzinho spoke exclusively with News18.com

Here are excerpts from the Interaction:

What’s your confidence level looking like heading into this fight against Jailton Almeida?

I’m confident about winning the fight, of course. It’s going there, winning the fight, obviously, right?

How has training camp been so far?

Well, my training camp was good, I can’t complain about that, I’m healthy. So, Yeah.

You’re coming into this fight on the back of a win against Chris Daukus, do you think getting a win streak going against Jailton Almeida will help you get into title contention?

Definitely, I’ll win this fight this Saturday then look for a fight with one of the top five guys or guys above me in the ranking. So yeah, go from winning this fight this Saturday and then we look into the future.

What originally inspired you to become an MMA fighter?

What inspired me to become a fighter? Yeah. I mean, I loved being a Kickboxer for a long time and I was trying new things and then I was in training with some guys, one was my sparring partner. Then these guys, they would try take downs and stuff on the ground, something I never had been doing so I tried it and they said, “You get that and you should try it more” and then somehow the year after I fought my first MMA fight in Russia, and I won that one, then fought another one, again in Russia, and won that one as well. And then that’s how we got the ball moving and then before I knew it, I was here in UFC.

What strategy are you going with for this fight?

I definitely will not share my strategy on the screen, but I definitely want to win this fight and I want to knock him out. I always want to knock people out, because, I have that talent. I go in the octagon, and if I touch people, they go down. So the thing is, I got to find an opening, see what he goes for see where it is. It’s not an easy thing, not a lot of freedom in there. So I want to win and definitely, I want to knock people out. I think that’s the coolest thing that says that you can put somebody out before the bell and yeah, I definitely go for finishes.

Could you tell us the story behind your nickname Bigi Boy?

It’s pretty much an easy story. My name was difficult to pronounce and I was playing with my friends, but I was bigger than all my friends, even though we were the same age. So that’s when one of the bigger guys was talking to me and he couldn’t pronounce my name. He said Jose you-you-you Biggi Boy, big guy, actually it means in my language back home. So and then, before I knew it all my friends started calling Me Biggie, Biggie Boy, And then, yeah, and I was under the age of ten, nine. So I stay with that name and I think it’s one for my friends.

You debuted in the UFC with a win against Alistar Overeem, a huge name, and since then you’ve fought names like former champ Francis Ngannou, Cyril Gaine, Alexander Volkov and many more, what was that experience like and what did you learn from those fights?

I definitely learned a lot of lessons and a lot of good things. A lot of positive things. Fighting with the bigger names, definitely made me a better fighter and yeah there’s how life goes. You run into some things and you get up as a better person and I think even though a fight didn’t go my way, that doesn’t mean I didn’t do anything. I learned a lot of things and now I’m a better fighter than yesterday.

Being one of the few Surinamese UFC fighters, how proud are you to be flying the Surinamese flag in the UFC?

It’s definitely awesome to fight out from back home, Suriname. I think I’m the only one right now and it’s a big deal for us because it’s been a while since an athlete from our country reached this side of the world with this level and everybody thinks it’s awesome and I’m honoured to be in this position.

Who are your top 5 MMA fighters of all time?

Yeah, I’m definitely going to go with (Jon) Jones, (Daniel) Cormier. Recently, I watched a lot of fights too. (Alexander) Volkanovski is one of them, Izzy (Isreal Adesanya) is one of them. I think Israel is one of the best, I like his style, and I like what he does with the game.

If not the MMA, What do you see yourself doing?

I don’t know because I’m not thinking like that, you know, when I want something, I’m focusing fully on it. Right now, I’m in the UFC, then my whole life is focusing on UFC, training, focusing on the fight. My whole family also knows that is how it is. You don’t talk to me about anything else. If you talk about fighting you’re to talk about fighting.

Any message for your fans, especially in India?

EXCLSUIVE | "Israel Adesanya's Game Style Is Just...." UFC's Jairzinho Rosenstruik

Jairzinho Rosenstruik, currently ranked 9th, has gone head to head with some of the biggest names in the UFC, including former Heavyweight Champ Francis Ngannou