“It’s like another fight,” Rosas said. “It’s more exciting because it’s at T-Mobile, but I’m not nervous or anything. I’m just excited and looking forward to it.
Teenagers aren’t supposed to be this cool fighting grown men in front of an arena full of fans on the biggest mixed martial arts platform. But Rosas has been doing this sort of thing since he was a kid, when he saw his dad fight and was hooked immediately.
Reasons to watch | UFC 282: Blachowicz vs. Ankalaev
“When I saw him fight, I remember how the crowd was cheering him on and I saw the process, like he was backstage and getting ready to fight, and I knew that was that. I wanted to do,” Rosas said. “Right after he got out of the cage, I told him I wanted to fight.”
Raul Sr. supported his young son’s ambitions, with one rule:
“He said to me, ‘You just have to train hard.'”
Rosas trained hard and practiced as much as he could, and it wasn’t long before he – and everyone around him – realized he had something special.