Christian Rodriguez upsets Raul Rosas Jr at UFC 287
The Ultimate Fighting Championship returns to us tonight, April 8, 2023, for UFC 287, going down live from the Kaseya Center in Miami, Florida.
Headlining the event is a middleweight championship bout showcasing newly crowned champion Alex Pereira and former champion Israel Adesanya, an immediate rematch from their UFC 281 clash back in November of last year.
Co-headlining is a welterweight bout between a pair of former title challengers in Gilbert Burns and Jorge Masvidal.
Then opening up the main card tonight at UFC 287 was a bantamweight encounter between 18-year-old stud Raul Rosas Jr and Christian Rodriguez.
Rosas came into the bout with a perfect record of 7-0 (1 knockout, 5 submissions), having gone 1-0 thus far into his short UFC tenure. Rodriguez on the other hand came in with a record of 8-1 (3 knockout, 4 submission), having gone 1-1 thus far in the promotion.
Continue reading to see how this 135 lb affair went down:
Rosas came out guns blazing in round one, attempting takedown after takedown once the bout begins. On his fourth attempt, Rosas gets Rodriguez to the mat and he’s right into side control. However, he gets into position to go for a guillotine choke and goes for it, ending up on his back.
Rosas doesn’t accept bottom position though and they’re back to their feet, where Rosas eventually jumps onto Rodriguez’ back and searches for the rear naked choke finish during the final two minutes of the opening stretch.
Round two was a much, much different story, as Rodriguez began to break Rosas, who expended an absurd amount of energy through the first five minutes. Rodriguez is able to stuff Rosas’ takedown attempts and ends up on top, where he spends most of his time on Rosas’ back, as well as in mount.
Christian Rodriguez gets it done!
@ceerod97 hands Raul Rosas Jr. his first career loss at #UFC287! pic.twitter.com/cmV9CkbirH
— UFC (@ufc) April 9, 2023
Round three was quite similar to round two, though Rosas didn’t shoot on a takedown immediately when the round began. Instead, he tried to strike with Rodriguez, but was getting boxed up badly so he was forced to shoot, where he ended up on bottom again with Rodriguez reigning down vicious punches and elbows onto him.
Christian Rodriguez def. Raul Rosas Jr via unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 29-28)
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