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Raul Rosas Jr., 17, became the youngest fighter to be signed by the Ultimate Fighting Championship after he showcased his considerable talents during Week 9 of Dana White’s Contender Series on Sept. 20. If one cares at all about Rosas and wished to see him maximize his potential, this—the very accomplishment he and his family had likely been dreaming about for years—was the absolute worst thing that could have happened to him. How so?
Let’s begin with the purely physical. At 17, Rosas’ body is still growing and developing. He is harming this process by putting himself through the intense trauma of cutting weight, and by competing in the UFC, he will want to cut as many pounds as possible. This process is bad enough for fully developed adults, but it’s especially bad for teens, as has been made clear by people much smarter than me. Why put a growing body through such stress? Notably, most mixed martial artists begin their careers in their early 20s, not because they’re incapable of defeating opponents in their late teens but to avoid damaging their physical development. It also allows them to have much longer careers. Some fighters who started too young and were cutting a lot of weight too early, like Rory MacDonald and Jordan Mein, flame out before their time.
Of course, there’s also a major problem with his martial arts development itself. Right now, Rosas wins his fights through grappling. This is the most common method for young fighters to win at the lower levels of the sport. They have an effective mixture of wrestling and Brazilian jiu-jitsu, and their hapless opponents cannot stop it. However, this all goes out the window in the UFC, where the vast majority of opposition has solid defensive grappling at their disposal. How does someone in this situation win fights then? Either you’re an outstanding, world-class grappler—at the age of 17, no one is—or you develop better-than-serviceable striking, which takes years. Look at Chase Hooper. He was signed by the UFC when he was about to turn 19 and had three whole fights in smaller promotions first to develop, only to debut in the big promotion when he was 20 years old. He, too, was a good grappler who used that skill to win. He was also far more experienced and older than Rosas, and he had defeated better opponents. In addition, Hooper was given extremely favorable matchmaking in the UFC, facing some of the weakest featherweights in the division, several of them with gaping holes in their grappling. Despite all this, he has struggled. Hooper was badly beaten up and exposed by Alex Caceres—a fighter who has been taken down and finished many times in his career. He also needed a crazy comeback late in Round 3 to beat Peter Barrett, easily the weakest featherweight in the division and a fighter who frankly should have never even been signed by the UFC. One bout later, Hooper lost to another low-level member of the roster in Steven Peterson.
More than the losses themselves, Hooper hasn’t had a chance to develop properly. He came into the UFC with no striking ability. Had he gradually raised his level of competition in other organizations, he could have consistently improved his standup, testing it out against opponents who posed little danger with their own striking. However, in the UFC, where his striking is vastly worse than everyone else’s, that wasn’t an option, and he had to keep replying on the grappling. Hooper is now 23 years old, and suddenly, isn’t that impressive for his age anymore. He would have been a better fighter had he joined the UFC a few years later and would have been better positioned to have high-level success.
Joining the UFC too early is even an issue for older fighters. Max Rohskopf was a strong grappler—he was a former Division I wrestler and showed talent in Brazilian jiu-jitsu tournaments—who was 5-0 when he debuted in the promotion, having submitted each of his previous five opponents with ease. He was a few months shy of turning 26 at the time, almost a decade older than Rosas, and he was a better grappler who had defeated much tougher opposition. Despite all this, Rohskopf was thoroughly beaten up by Austin Hubbard at UFC on ESPN 11. When Rohskopf couldn’t use his grappling to utterly steamroll an opponent, he was lost, and Hubbard badly exposed his lack of standup, punishing him on the feet. Rohskopf’s development wasn’t as badly hurt with this being his only fight in the UFC, and he did not absorb a lot of damage. Still, the loss put an unnecessary blemish on his career and shook his confidence. He didn’t fight again for over a year and had to build himself back up with two wins in Cage Warriors Fighting Championship. Only now, roughly two and a half years later, is he getting another crack at a major organization, as he is set to debut in Bellator MMA when he faces Mike Hamel at Bellator 286.
The allure of joining the UFC is considerable, but a fighter’s team should have a complete understanding of the ultimate goal. “Making it to the UFC” as an end goal isn’t especially impressive. There’s little money at the lower levels of the organization (a mere $12,000 to show and the same to win), and there isn’t much fame, either. The average mixed martial arts fan wouldn’t even recognize many of names who enjoyed cups of coffee in the UFC. William Macario? Jake Hecht? The goal, especially for a talented young fighter like Rosas, should be to become a world-class fighter and serious contender, whether that be in the UFC, Bellator or even One Championship or the Rizin Fighting Federation. They shouldn’t join an organization unless they’re ready to make a big splash in it. Unfortunately, at 17 years old and competing in the most high-skill division in MMA, that’s not going to happen. Rosas is instead only going to harm his health and fighting development.