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Julian Erosa | All About Fighting And Winning
Inspired By His Son, Julian Erosa Hopes To Pick Up His Fourth Win In A Row And Second Win In A Month At UFC Fight Night: Burns vs Morales
It was a sad omission in the 2024 Trainer of the Year awards, but apparently AJ Erosa is taking it all in stride, according to his dad, Julian.
“He’s not in jiu-jitsu class yet, but he is walking around,” said Julian. “He is moving and grooving, and he’s climbing everything. It'll be just a matter of time before this guy's kicking my ass.”
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The 14-month-old must know something about kicking ass, since dad is 3-0 with three finishes since he arrived in the world in March of 2024. Now, as the elder Erosa prepares for a Saturday matchup with Brazil’s Melquizael Costa, he is ready to reveal the secret of his recent success.
“Honestly, right now, it's my son,” said Erosa. “Originally, I thought it was a coincidence that after having my son, I had three first-round finishes after coming off of two losses. But I think something about having my son just kind of melted away all the anxieties and the stress that comes along with fighting. I've always been a very mellow guy, but obviously, even if you're a mellow guy, you're still going to have the anxieties, you're still going to have those fears. And, for me, for whatever reason, after I had him, all that kind of melted away, and it also gave me something even more to fight for because I have him. Before him, it was just me and my wife. So we were focused on each other and what we wanted to do. But now that we have our son, he's our main focus. It's something that people don't understand until you have a kid yourself.”
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All that matters is that it makes sense to Erosa, who submitted Ricardo Ramos and Christian Rodriguez and stopped Darren Elkins since the arrival of his son. You might call it coincidence, but Erosa won’t because he’s seen a whole mindset shift over the last 14 months.
“Before my son was here and I was fighting, even in the UFC, I had this mindset of, well, it is what it is. If I win, I win. If I lose, I lose. I was almost justifying losses before I went out there, and that was really only to keep my nerves about it down. But after having my son, I don't think about that anymore.”
Julian Erosa Snatches First Round Guillotine Choke | UFC Fight Night: Ribas vs Namajunas
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Julian Erosa Snatches First Round Guillotine Choke | UFC Fight Night: Ribas vs Namajunas
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All he thinks about is fighting and winning, and after scoring a stirring first-round stoppage of the notoriously tough Elkins last month, he’s already back, looking to make it four in a row against Costa. Some guys will do anything to get out of changing diapers.
“Well, I wanted to take the opportunity,” Erosa said. “The opponent was right, and I just got done with a 10-week camp. So why waste it by just not using it again? And it was only a week after my last fight that I found out about this one. So it was about a four-week camp that I have for this one, but technically speaking, it's like 10 weeks before that. So I just put it back to use. I didn't get injured and the fight was pretty easy for me, so I just wanted to get back and keep my weight low and make weight and then get another opportunity. It’s at the APEX, so I don't have to go anywhere, he’s also a good opponent for me and I'm 35. I want to just keep busy, especially if I'm healthy and I get first round finishes.”
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Erosa has come a long way in his latest stint in the UFC, where he’s 8-3 with six finishes. And he’s a far cry from where he was the last time he ran into somebody named AJ - his 2020 opponent in a CageSport bout – AJ Bryant. Back then, he was fighting in his home state of Washington on a regional show after coming up empty in two UFC runs. He didn’t know if he would get a third shot in the promotion, but he wasn’t walking around with a cloud hanging over his head.
“It's crazy to me because when I think back about that time and space, in my mind I was so optimistic,” he said. “I was more optimistic being out of the UFC and fighting in CageSport at that time then I feel even right now in life. (Laughs) But I told myself, you know what? If I've got to go back to the regional scene, I'm just going to be the baddest dude on the regional scene. If this is where my career takes me and this is where it kind of fizzled out, then I'm going to at least end on being known that I was whooping those guys' asses at least. So I was super optimistic. I was so willing to just work my ass off and I was riding my bike every day and I was working so freaking hard. I was working just as hard as I'm working right now, and there was no guarantee of fighting in any big show again or making any kind of career-type money doing what I love.”
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Erosa beat Bryant that night, submitting him in the first round. Four months later, he was back in the UFC, where he handed hot prospect Sean Woodson his first pro loss.
And just look at “Juicy J” now.
UFC Fight Night: Burns vs Morales took place live from UFC APEX in Las Vegas, Nevada on May 17, 2025. See the final Prelim & Main Card Results, Official Scorecards and Who Won Bonuses - and relive the action on UFC FIGHT PASS!
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