Raul Rosas Jr.: A Present And Future Problem

“I feel like putting a challenge like that on myself makes it more motivating for me and more exciting for my career.”

The first two years of Rosas Jr.’s career inside the Octagon have already been tremendously exciting and have highlighted why the New Mexico-born fighter stands as one of the most intriguing fighters on the UFC roster.

Less than three months after earning his contract with a victory over future Ultimate Fighter competitor Mando Gutierrez on Season 6 of Dana White’s Contender Series, Rosas ran through Jay Perrin to earn his first UFC win, pushing his record to 7-0 in the process. After starting fast, fading hard, and landing on the wrong side of the results for the first time in his sophomore showing against Christian Rodriguez, he bounced back with a 54-second stoppage win over Terrence Mitchell at the inaugural Noche UFC event last year at T-Mobile Arena.

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But it was his fight with recent TUF winner Ricky Turcios earlier this year that showed the developmental improvements Rosas Jr. has been making, providing new information to use in forecasting his future.

“It was good for me because he’s a really good fighter — Ultimate Fighter champion, very durable; a really good test for me,” he said of his second-round submission win over Turcios, a battle-tested veteran who had never previously been submitted. “For me to go out there and finish him like I said I would just proves to me that I am who I say I am.

“I can see my improvements, I can see my hard work paying off, and so I’m proud of that performance and excited to keep improving.”

Even though his age is a constant topic of conversation whenever he readies to make the walk, we still somehow fail to properly contextualize it at times, and that’s the piece that not only gives him a legitimate shot at chasing down Jones’ record, but tremendous promise for the future in general.

With a win on Saturday, Rosas Jr. will be 5-1 in the UFC and riding a three-fight winning streak inside the Octagon, all before turning 20. Physically, you can see each time out that he’s growing more and more into his body, adding size and strength, as well as sharpening the raw skills that made him such a fascinating prospect in the first place.

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“Oh, I’m much better than what I was when I was 17,” he said with a big smile when asked about his improvements over his first two years on the roster. “I feel like I’m better every day.

“Every day I’m looking for improvement, reaching for perfection. Every fight I feel like a better fighter — better striking, better wrestling, better grappling, and, more than anything, I just feel stronger and bigger for every fight.”

All this success and progress has come before Rosas Jr. has fully nailed down a routine for himself, as well.

Right now, he’s been a little itinerant when it comes to putting together and executing his training camps, mixing in work with his father and the team that helped him reach the UFC stage with stops at Xtreme Couture and Syndicate MMA in Las Vegas, as well as having made a weekend jaunt to the Arizona desert to train alongside the divisional standouts at The MMA Lab.

Eventually, he’ll set up shop somewhere permanently, establishing a home base and set of coaches and training partners he’ll work with on a consistent basis, but, for now, he’s grateful for all the open doors and quality rounds he’s been getting.

“I got some work at Xtreme (Couture), some work at Syndicate (MMA) for the bodies, sparring partners, and then I was able to go to the MMA Lab to get some work out there,” offered Rosas Jr., who has finished all but one of his nine career victories, and looks to become just the second person to stop Aoriqileng in the UFC when they face off this weekend. “I went for a weekend and so I’m thankful for everybody that opens their doors to me, lets me come in, get some work, and shares their knowledge with me.

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“It helps a lot,” he said of mixing in at different gyms, training with as many established names as he has both during this camp and throughout his UFC journey. “Sparring rounds with Marcus McGhee, Mario Bautista, Kyler Phillips — those are rounds of experience and help me improve. That’s why I like sparring high-level guys — it helps me see what I need to work on, learn some stuff from them, and then put it in my game, which makes me a better fighter.”

That mindset, that approach, and the fact that Rosas Jr. has such a clear understanding of both the scope of the opportunity in front of him this weekend, and the importance of blocking everything else except being in the Octagon with Aoriqileng out of his mind further underscores how bright his future truly is.