Up-and-coming bantamweight phenom Raul Rosas Jr. was scheduled to make his Octagon return as part of the UFC Mexico City fight card last weekend on ESPN+, but a late (and somewhat mysterious) illness forced “El Niño Problema” to be yanked from his Ricky Turcios bout at the last second.
So what the heck happened?
“To all the people asking what happened to Raul, he was feeling lightheaded, dizziness and had low energy,” Rosas Jr. father, Raul Rosas, wrote on Instagram. “He still was ready, had his gear on and didn’t want to pull out of the fight, he was still gonna go out there and fight.”
“But we as a team didn’t let him go out there, his health comes first and if he’s not 100 percent it’s not worth going out there right now,” Rosas continued. “He’s getting checked by the doctors. Thank you all for the support to Raul, he’ll be back.”
Pre-fight “spells” are not uncommon for young talent.
Rosas Jr., still just 19 years old, was rebooked to fight Turcios at the upcoming UFC Vegas 87 event this weekend at the APEX facility in Las Vegas, then subsequently unbooked when the “Pretty” Texan called the shift in dates “fake news.” In addition, the promotion has yet to make any sort of announcement on when or where “El Niño Problema” will return.
Stay tuned.