Raul Rosas Jr. isn’t done making history.
The undefeated 17-year-old became the youngest signing in UFC history on Tuesday, earning a Dana White Contender Series contract after defeating Mando Gutierrez by unanimous decision. Rosas, post-fight spoke with the media to declare that he would soon break the UFC record for the youngest champion.
“I’m just ready to fight every week, every month,” Rosas said. Rosas said, “I don’t care. All gas, no brakes. When I retire, I will rest, but right now, we are just starting so it’s not a good idea to stop.
” I know this won’t come easy. Nothing’s easy in this life, but I will become the youngest UFC champion, I don’t care what it takes. I won’t let anyone take it away. If I could fight a guy from the top 5 for my UFC debut, I would, but I’ve got to work my way up there and I will. I will be up there soon. I will become the youngest UFC champion when I’m 19, 20, 21. It doesn’t really matter .”
The record for youngest UFC champion is currently held by Jon Jones, who defeated Mauricio Rua to capture a title at the age of 23 and 242 days. That gives Rosas (6-0) plenty of time to achieve his goal, assuming everything goes according to plan.
Rosas said it puts a lot of pressure on him, but he stated that this has not been an issue that affected his fighting.
“I honestly didn’t have no pressure,” Rosas said of any possible pre-Contender Series fight jitters. “But even if I had pressure, pressure makes diamonds. Because I know what I have. I wasn’t even nervous backstage. You can see their videos, but if they don’t release them you will know that I had taken a rest. After the fight, I was awakened and started warming up.
“I’m using everybody as my warm-up. No matter who is in front of my face, I’m never nervous. Even though I am 17,, I will experience fighting. I won’t mind if it’s anyone, but I do care. I will fight .”
even if it means I must fight now.
Rosas competes in the bantamweight division, one of the strongest fields in all of MMA, with the UFC roster currently topped by marquee names like Aljamain Sterling, Petr Yan, T.J. Dillashaw, Cory Sandhagen, and Merab Dvalishvili. While Rosas understands that it could be some time before he gets a crack at any of them, he doesn’t think fans will have to wait long to see him make his UFC debut.
” When’s next? Rosas asked. “I want to fight next week. Whoever they put in front of me, I’m ready to go get the kill.”
