Raul Rosas Jr. is confident he will break Jon Jones’ record of becoming the youngest UFC champion.
Rosas Jr. is currently 3-1 in the UFC and is just 19 years old. With the Mexican-American being just 19, he believes he has a case of beating Jones’ record and becoming the youngest UFC champ. Of course, ‘Bones’ set the record at 23 years old, giving Rosas Jr. over three years to accomplish the feat.
“It’s always been there,” Rosas Jr. said on The MMA Hour. “I did take that loss, and it did set me back a little bit, but I knew I was going to be back, and, you know, it was nothing.”
Raul Rosas Jr. currently does not have his next fight booked, but he believes he is a win away from a ranked opponent. Once he’s in the rankings, Rosas thinks he can make a quick rise and become a UFC champ in two years.
“It depends,” Rosas explained. “Sh*t, let me see, if I get another fight this year, I’m thinking if I win, if I don’t get a top-15 [opponent] next, I think winning the next fight will get me a [ranked opponent]. Then [I’ll likely be] fighting three fights in the top 15, so probably two, three years it will take me [to become champion]. It’s always been the main goal, but I’ve got four years to break it. I think I can make it happen.”
Raul Rosas Jr. takes aim at Ricy Turcios
Raul Rosas Jr. is coming off a submission win over Ricky Turcios back at UFC Lousiville last weekend.
It was a solid performance from Rosas Jr., but after the fight, he took aim at Turcios for his comments after the fight.
“I was like, ‘You disrespected me first though, you know?’” Rosas Jr. said at the post-fight press conference (via MMAJunkie). “You disrespected me by over here saying that I pulled out, this or that. He was like, ‘No, you disrespected me first by breaking the Bushido code,’ or whatever. Then I was like, ‘Bro, you know that’s something I couldn’t control. You know I was sick.’“
“And he told me that he was sick as well. He told me he had staph this week, his knee, whatever, whatever. But you know, hopefully, he doesn’t use that as an excuse. That’s the reason I didn’t step out in Mexico City, because if I would have stepped out in Mexico City, I wasn’t going to bring it 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 that was just a dumb decision. I didn’t do that.”
Rosas Jr. is currently 9-1 as a pro and is on a two-fight winning streak.