Who is Raúl Rosas Jr., the Mexican who became the youngest fighter in UFC history?
The 18-year-old high school student made history in the UFC and MMA world when he faced Jay Perrin last Saturday in Las Vegas.
Dana White probably had a good reason to be smiling more than usual at the post-fight event press conference, as a Mexican teenager called Raúl Rosas Jr. made history in UFC for being the youngest fighter in the promotion.
A historic debut that had a double prize: El Niño Problema won his fight against Jay Perrin by submission in the first round, with a rear naked choke.
After his impressive win, the Mexican-American bantamweight asked White to get the 50,000 dollars that the promotion traditionally gives to the best performance of the night to buy a van for his mum. The Problem Child got his wish, as Dana White decided to give that prize money to all the fighters on the card who managed to beat their opponents.
Who’s Raúl Rosas Jr.?
Rosas Jr., who is in his senior year at high school, started fighting at four years of age, stepping in his first karate gym with his brother Jesse. Soon they both realized they had enough talent to become professionals in the sport.
“From the ages of 8 to 14 I was fighting people my age, I lost twice and won 25 times. I also went to Italy to compete for an IMMAF title. After that, I knew I was the best teenager in the world”, he said ahead of his UFC debut fight.
I realized that nobody was gonna be on my level as I’d see the professionals, I knew I could beat them even though they were like 7-0. I went pro when I was 17 in Mexico as I couldn’t fight pro in the US until 18″, he added.
The star teenager, born in Mexico, got the UFC doors wide open in September after displaying a great performance that translated into a one-sided decision victory over Mando Gutiérrez on the Dana White Contender Series. After the fight, White said he’d never seen a fighter like Rosas.
Rosas, a purple belt fighting out of Eddie Bravo’s 10th Planet Jiu Jitsu in Las Vegas, improved his record to 6-0 as a professional fighter after facing Perrin at the T-Mobile Arena, being his first official bout to go the distance.
The previous UFC record in terms of preciousness was held by American Dan Lauzon, who signed his contract at 18 years, 198 days.