UFC President Dana White is all-in on the potential of one of the promotion's recent signings, 17-year-old bantamweight Raul Rosas Jr.
White spoke with the media on Tuesday night during his weekly post-fight conference following the latest edition of Dana White's Contender Series and gushed over Rosas Jr.'s performance against Mando Gutierrez, while also explaining why he gave the teenager a UFC contract.
“For a 17-year-old to conduct himself the way he did in this fight, I was blown away by it. Blown away,” White said (h/t MMA Fighting). "After what I just saw, this kid’s ready to fight in the UFC. He’s not one of these guys that’s a jiu-jitsu guy that just lays around and whatever. He’s always going for something, how slick he is, how he takes the back. When you get his back, how he can get out? Just everything that kid did tonight impressed me, especially his cardio. There was never an adrenaline dump where he looked exhausted at one point. There was never a lull in the fight with either guy. I’m very, very impressed with this kid. He’s absolutely special. The amount of fighters that were blowing me up, going, ‘Oh my God, this kid’s for real, this kid’s legit,’ [it’s] impressive. This definitely isn’t that place [to bring a young fighter up slowly], but when you find [young talent] — look at Mickey Gall. Mickey Gall wasn’t 17, but Mickey Gall came in here at 1-0. I brought Mickey Gall in off Lookin’ For A Fight to fight CM Punk, and he had a pretty good career here. He hung out here for a while and had some good fights and did pretty well. If you find these kids that you think are talented and you end up being right, they’ll last here. And what I saw from this kid tonight, he looked special.”
This Suloev stretch attempt by Raul Rosas Jr. was naaaaasty -- #DWCS pic.twitter.com/P2SUoluoAu
— UFC (@ufc) September 21, 2022
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