
19-year-old Raul Rosas manhandled fighter with 3X his experience before UFC Mexico City
Raul Rosas Jr. overcame the largest experience gap of his career from the Sphere.
âEl Nino Problemaâ holds a special place in the history books, becoming the youngest fighter ever to sign with the UFC at 17 years old back in 2022. Rosas has broken more records since then, notably winning his promotional debut at 18 years old.
Raul Rosas Jr. is currently 4-1 in the UFC, riding a three-fight winstreak heading into his return at UFC Mexico City where he takes on 25-fight veteran Vince Morales this Saturday.
Rosas, 20, shouldnât be too worried about the experience differential after what happened in his last fight in September.
READ MORE: Raul Rosas Jr can break UFC record that was set before he was born with win at UFC Mexico City
Photo by Christian Petersen/Getty ImagesRaul Rosas Jrâs opponent had 26 more fights than himA month before his birthday, a 19-year-old Raul Rosas Jr. was matched up against Chinaâs Aoriqileng in the first fight from the Sphere at UFC 306.
12 years his elder, Aoriqileng (25-11) had 3 times the experience on Rosas, seeing countless rounds across 24 fights that went the distance.
Rosas had only been to the judgesâ decision twice before then but the young gun wouldnât let that stop him from dominating Aoriqileng on the ground.
Raul Rosas became first fighter to win at SphereWhat we saw from Rosas was a more patient approach than his previous fights. He didnât shoot for a takedown right away like he did in sole loss against Christian Rodriguez. Instead, Rosas set up his strikes before taking the fight to the mat two minutes in.
It was Rosasâ world on the ground, threatening submission attempts on Aoriqilengâs back.
The second round ended up being a lot closer, taking place on the feet before Rosas secured an early takedown on Aoriqileng in the final round. Rosas slammed the 31-year-old right after he made it back up to his feet.
Rosas Jr. held Aoriqileng down for the rest of the round, getting his hand raised by unanimous decision, the first to do so from the high-end venue.
âIt feels amazing making history at 19 years old,â Rosas Jr. told Joe Rogan in his post-fight interview.
âStill the first and the youngestâŠâ