Raul Rosas Jr continued his impressive run in MMA’s premier promotion on Saturday night.
UFC Mexico City suffered a setback when Joe Pyfer withdrew from his fight with Kelvin Gastelum just a few hours before the event got underway.
The card seemed cursed when it kicked off with an ‘absolute robbery‘ and a rare blooper from Bruce Buffer, who uncharacteristically announced the wrong winner after Jamall Emmers knocked out Gabriel Miranda.
However, things perked up when Loopy Godinez landed a powerbomb that made Daniel Cormier go crazy before Raul Rosas Jr made history by beating Vince Morales by unanimous decision.
Photo by Chris Unger/Zuffa LLC
By outpointing Morales, the 20-year-old has become the youngest person to win five UFC fights, breaking a record set by Vitor Belfort, who won five fights in the promotion at 21 years and 203 days old.
‘The Phenom’s’ record-setting win came against Wanderlei Silva when the two met at UFC 17.5 in 1998 – six years before Rosas Jr was born.
Chants of Rosas Jr’s Chiwiwis catchphrase echoed around the Arena CDMX before the hometown favorite went to work his elite-level wrestling skills.
Rosas Jr picked up his 34-year-old opponent and slammed him to the mat to earn massive cheers from the partisan crowd, who enjoyed watching him dominate the majority of round one.
It was more of the same in the second stanza as Rosas Jr secured an early takedown and dominated in top position for almost all of the five-minute frame.
Morales was told by his corner to knock Rosas Jr out in the final round, but he almost found the finish in a different way when he locked up a tight choke.
It looked like the youngster might go to sleep before he popped his head out and dominated the rest of the round with the grappling skills that proved to be the difference all night.
Ultimately, all three cageside judges scored the fight 29-28 in favor of Rosas Jr.
Rosas Jr wasn’t impressed by his performance, but he was happy to improve his record to 11-1.
The bantamweight prospect used his post-fight interview to send a message to UFC boss Dana White.
“Dana, thank you for allowing me to come here to redeem myself in front of my Mexican people,” Rosas Jr said.
“I know it wasn’t my best performance, but I’m getting more experienced, wiser, and I’m just 20 years old.
“Five victories inside the UFC Octagon, so you’ll see me involved throughout the years, baby.”
MMARaul Rosas JrUFCUFC Mexico City
