MMA

The youngest fighter in UFC history loses for the first time!

Raul Rosas Jr. is a huge phenomenon. He fought for a spot in the UFC at the age of 17, and as an 18-year-old, he’s now in his second fight in the organization at UFC 287. But he lost the first time.

Published

2 years ago

9. 4. 2023

Pavel Langr

Raul Rosas Jr. is a huge phenomenon. He fought for a spot in the UFC when he was just 17 years old, and as an 18-year-old, he’s now in his second fight in the organization at UFC 287. But he lost the first time.

Second fight in the UFC, second on a numbered tournament, but first on a main card. Raul Rosas Jr. is a huge talent and it’s no wonder the biggest organization in the world is trying to promote him a little more.

But that doesn’t mean he should be getting easy opponents. On the contrary. The youngest fighter in the history of the organization is in his second fight in the UFC at the age of 18, and after his first bout in which he stepped on the more experienced Jay Perrin, he now faces a tough opponent.

At UFC 287, Rosas was challenged by the 25-year-old Christian Rodriguez, who, although he has only three more fights in his professional career, was fighting for the third time in the UFC and the fight showed more maturity.

Rosas didn’t get off to a bad start at all. On the contrary. He clearly dominated the first round. He didn’t let Rodriguez do anything, sticking to him constantly, pulling him down, even getting on his back and trying to set up a rear-naked choke, only to fail.

The 18-year-old rising star looked overconfident and reckless at times, while Rodriguez looked like a calm force waiting for his opportunity against Rosas. And that’s what the next two rounds looked like.

The script had completely flipped, with Rosas making a few mistakes and Rodriguez taking advantage of them. He was wringing Rosas down, and he also had a chance to put on the choke for virtually the entire two rounds. But Rosas didn’t give up, even though he looked desperate at the end of the fight.

Rosas fell on points and notched the first loss of his career and has a record of 7-1. Rodriguez is now 10-1 and, as he said after the fight, he stopped the hype train. Either way, both fighters showed great talent and the UFC has a very interesting future in them.

Source: UFC