Raul Rosas Jr. maintained respect for Ricky Turcios despite their heated exchanges and ultimately settled their rivalry with a dominant submission victory at UFC Louisville, aiming now for a significant fight at UFC 306 in Las Vegas.
Raul Rosas Jr. had no ill will towards Ricky Turcios. Even after his opponent got heated with him during their faceoff on Friday and then shouted an expletive at him just before they clashed at UFC Louisville on Saturday.
The entire ordeal stemmed from their original fight being canceled back in February. Rosas fell sick just before walking out to the octagon.
The matchup was eventually rescheduled for June. Turcios never let go of that animosity over the fight cancellation.
“When we did the faceoff, I could tell that he was a little bit emotional, a little bit mad and nervous,” Rosas said at the UFC Louisville post-fight press conference. “I think he was too nervous so that’s why he reacted like that, I think. He didn’t really handle the pressure well so I think that’s why he reacted like that.”
Despite some early success, Turcios eventually faded. Rosas took him down in the second round and dominated him in the grappling exchange.
Once he secured a body triangle, Rosas latched onto a rear-naked choke. Turcios had to tap out or risk going to sleep.
As he celebrated his victory, Rosas approached Turcios. The bantamweights exchanged a few words that seemingly settled the beef between them.
“He was telling me ‘all respect’ and I was like ‘respect,’” Rosas said about the conversation. “He said that he had the same thing planned, it was all respect and I was like you disrespected me first. You disrespected me by saying that I pulled out, this or that and he was like ‘you disrespected me first by breaking the bushido code’ or whatever.
“I was like bro, that’s something I couldn’t control, I was sick. He told me that he was sick as well.”
Rosas claimed that Turcios told him in the cage that he actually competed with a staph infection. That had him performing at less than 100 percent.
As they spoke in the cage, Rosas explained that’s exactly why he didn’t end up fighting when they were originally scheduled to clash in Mexico City. He knew he wouldn’t be competing at his best.
Had he actually fought that night and lost, Rosas didn’t want any excuses. But he feels like maybe that’s what Turcios was giving him about his downfall on Saturday.
“He told me he had staph this week, his knee, whatever, whatever,” Rosas said. “You know hopefully he doesn’t use that as an excuse. That’s why I didn’t step out in Mexico City. Because if I would have stepped out in Mexico City, I wasn’t going to bring up that I was sick.
“If I had lost in Mexico City, I was going to leave it at that. If he was really sick and had staph and went out there, I think it was just a dumb decision. I didn’t do that.”
Regardless of the fight cancellation or the rivalry that grew from that night, Rosas certainly put it all to bed with an emphatic submission finish.
With that win, Rosas now hopes to move onto bigger and better opposition. He has designs on returning to action at UFC 306 when the promotion lands at the Sphere in Las Vegas in September.
“I do want a big fight next,” Rosas said. “Hopefully my next fight will be at the Sphere, Mexican Independence Day. I want to make it big and get a big name for that fight card.”