Ex-UFC fighter arrested on domestic battery charge in Pembroke Pines, cops say
A former UFC fighter is behind bars after a domestic violence incident that took place in Pembroke Pines on Martin Luther King Jr. Day, according to records.
Pembroke Pines police responded to an apartment unit at City Center on 7th on Monday, Jan. 19, following a call from Jairzinho Rozenstruik — a 37-year-old Surinamese mixed martial artist — reporting “vague allegations of his wife ... pushing him during an argument,” his arrest report shows.
When officers arrived around noon, the woman was gone and Rozenstruik was uncooperative, initially insisting, “They figured it out.”
It took several tries before Rozenstruik told officers that after an argument that morning, his wife had “lightly push(ed)” him with one arm before he walked away, not touching or striking her.
According to the woman — who returned to the complex and spoke to police — the spat began while the couple was driving back from their shared Pembroke Pines storage unit and escalated when Rozenstruik slapped her hand for ignoring him, causing her to drop her cellphone twice.
The pair then pulled into a Bank of America parking lot at 8398 Pines Blvd. where Rozenstruik allegedly “grabbed her arm to prevent her from leaving the vehicle,” leading his wife to punch him in the head multiple times out of self defense.
He told police that he didn’t slap the woman’s hand or try to stop her from stepping out of their car, but that he “lightly touched her arm” so she’d stay and talk it out.
After Rozenstruik parked the car, his wife added, he attempted to kiss her, which she refused and then called him a “nasty beast,” the report says. Police say he bit her right bicep after being angered by the insult.
The couple then ended up at the Club Fit Plaza, located at Palm Avenue and Pines Boulevard, where the woman again attempted to exit the car and punched Rozenstruik in the face, the report says. He eventually released her.
Rozenstruik added that the pair drove to and continued arguing at the Pembroke Pines Police Department’s East Headquarters and a Marathon gas station at 10700 Pines Blvd., where he said his wife finally left the car and drove home.
Police say the woman had a “visible bite mark on her right bicep, redness on both of her forearms and a red scratch/bruise mark under her right eye,” consistent with the incident.
The Surinamese fighter, who had no visible injuries, told officers that he intentionally bit his wife in self defense and that he believed she punched his face several times “because he was aggressively getting in her face during the argument.”
Though neither wished to prosecute, Rozenstruik was determined to be the primary aggressor by police and was arrested.
Jail records show he was being held at the Broward County Main Jail on an immigration hold as of Jan. 22 and faces charges of domestic battery and false imprisonment, or kidnapping.
Ronzestruik — who competed in the UFC’s Heavyweight division under “Bigi Boy” and is the current Dirty Boxing heavyweight champion — has no prior criminal history in Broward.
