18-year-old Raul Rosas Jr. knew he would get to the UFC at a young age but even he didn’t expect it to happen while he was still months away from graduating from his senior year in high school.
In fact, after winning Dana White’s Contender Series contest and earning a UFC Contract, the California-based bantamweight had no choice but to concentrate on his debut against Jay Perrin at UFC 282..
“This is my senior year in high school,” Rosas Jr. said during UFC 282 media day. “I began homeschooling to have access to more training sessions.
“I was going to school but I was missing a lot of days because I was training. So that’s why I say in between, hopefully I graduate this year.”
When he was still attending school full time and simultaneously training for a future in the UFC, Rosas Jr. says the toughest part was missing out on his favorite lunch when all of the kids in his class were racing to get a piece of pizza.
Now he’s preparing to fight on the biggest stage in mixed martial arts while also serving as the featured prelim heading into the final UFC pay-per-view in 2022.
Rosas Jr. says he is settling in to this new reality, and that he has learned how to survive the chaos, even though it all happens a bit sooner than expected.
“I knew I was going to be in the UFC early, around this age, but for some reason I didn’t think I was still going to be in high school,” Rosas Jr. said. It didn’t occur to me.
“I had to leave school but I wish I was still in regular school cause I think it’s pretty fun hanging out with friends and I’m not training, I’m just sitting on the desk, talking and eating and stuff. I had to take that away for me to become an even greater fighter than what I am today. It was a difficult decision that I made, but I knew I needed to. .”
Rosas Jr. has been the focus of much attention since his debut. This is because his age, and his chance to be the youngest ever to win a fight in the Octagon has been the main reason for all the attention.
Rosas Jr. is keen to show that he doesn’t just want to be a novelty act.
“For me it’s not only about winning this fight on Saturday night,” Rosas Jr. explained. It’s all about making a statement and proving that I can compete with higher-level opponents. I’m just going to show everybody that I’m levels above.
“The key to this fight is not only winning this fight but also I’m going to win impressively to show that I’m ready to fight higher level competition.”
Perrin spoke positively about Rosas Jr. to the media on the same day, but also said that it might have been too early for Rosas Jr., who is still learning and has not faced any adversity during his career.
Perrin clearly took issue with the notion that Rosas Jr. has already declared his intent to become UFC’s youngest champion — an honor held currently by Jon Jones 23 — and added that “everyone wishes to be that” and that he wanted to be Santa Claus .”
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In response, Rosas Jr. guarantees he will fulfill his promises and he’ll even attempt to help Perrin realize his fantasies after beating him at UFC 282.
“I think he would do better as Santa Claus than a fighter,” Rosas Jr. stated. “After this fight, that dream can come true. He can fulfill his dream to be Santa Claus. You can dress up as Santa Claus, and he can pose outside the mall with children. That is what he really desires. He can also buy me gifts if he so desires. He can buy me a gift and bring it to my home or whatever he wants to do after the fight.
“I’ll make his dream my come true, too, just like he’s making my dream come true by beating him on Saturday night. It’s a win-win for everybody, right?”
Source: https://www.mmafighting.com/2022/12/10/23499229/18-year-old-raul-rosas-jr-admits-it-was-tough-giving-up-his-final-year-of-high-school-to-fight-ufc?rand=96749
