Christian Rodriguez believes 18-year-old Raul Rosas Jr. has potential but needs to develop his MMA skill set and take the right fights in order to become a UFC threat.
Christian Rodriguez has not lost faith in 18-year-old prospect Raul Rosas Jr.’s ability to become a legitimate threat in the UFC. However, he believes that the young fighter’s rapid rise may have been too much, too soon. During UFC 287 earlier this month, Rodriguez managed to survive a challenging first round, fending off takedowns and several submission attempts before eventually dominating Rosas and securing a unanimous decision victory. Rosas, who entered the event as the youngest fighter on the UFC roster, had ambitious plans to break Jon Jones‘ record as the youngest-ever to capture UFC gold.
Despite spending 15 grueling minutes in the cage with Rosas, Rodriguez was impressed by his opponent’s skills but recognizes that there is still room for improvement. “I feel there’s still a lot of holes in his game, as in his whole MMA skill set,” Rodriguez said on The MMA Hour. “Not that it’s bad, but I think he needs to [get] more comfortable with his striking and stuff like that. I don’t think it’s a bad idea if he fights out of the UFC, because the UFC is the highest level. It’s the hardest level of MMA, so it’s hard.” Rosas joined the UFC roster just a few weeks shy of his 18th birthday as a contract winner on the promotion’s Contender Series and made a strong impression in his debut with a first-round rear-naked choke victory over Jay Perrin at UFC 282.
Heading into UFC 287, Rosas made bold claims about his main card spot on pay-per-view and boasted about past training sessions where he allegedly got the better of reigning bantamweight champion Aljamain Sterling. While the validity of those claims remains uncertain, Rosas appeared to be on track to become a future UFC champion until he encountered Rodriguez. The Milwaukee native resisted submissions early in the fight and then battered his teenage opponent during the second and third rounds.
Rodriguez is now eager to move forward in his own career, with a possible fight at the upcoming UFC 290 card in July, which marks the end of International Fight Week for the promotion in Las Vegas. He mentioned 22-year-old bantamweight Cameron Saaiman as a potential matchup if the UFC is interested. While Rodriguez still believes in Rosas’ potential, he knows that there is much room for growth, especially given the young fighter’s exceptionally early entrance into the UFC. “I see [the potential],” Rodriguez said. “He’s young. He’s very, very young. To be in the UFC at that age is one of the most rare things to do. The kid is good. I did a full 15 minutes with that kid, and I do have a lot of respect toward him. I just think he needs to take his time and take the right fights.”