Raul Rosas Jr. was the youngest fighter to be signed to UFC and wants to break Jon Jones’ record. His upcoming clash against UFL Bantamweight Champion Vince Morales is the next step to that goal. Can ‘El Nino Probema’ get his hand raised at UFC Mexico this weekend?
UFC Mexico, aka UFC on ESPN 64, is right around the corner, and this time, the flyweight and bantamweight divisions are going to be in the spotlight. The affair will commemorate the promotion’s 7th visit to Mexico and first since UFC Fight Night: Moreno vs. Royval 2 in February 2024. The main card features Brandon Moreno vs Steve Erceg and Raul Rosas Jr vs Vince Morales, among others. The fans are already going ‘Chiwiwi’ with excitement over Rosas Jr coming back to dominate in the Octagon after an amazing UFC record of 4 wins out of his 5 fights till now in the promotion. Without further ado, let’s get into the stats and predictions to see who will dominate this fight.
UFC Mexico: Raul Rosas Jr. vs. Vince Morales stats
The 20-year-old is a fun bantamweight fighter and is a fan favorite entering this fight. However, despite having a fun-loving personality, he has a fighting style that can send fighters into the shadow realm and is hard to deal with. This matchup with Vince ‘Vandetta’ Morales is pretty interesting because he is an underdog and was overlooked in his career at UFC despite his 5-0 record outside the promotion after 2022.
Morales, who has a 16-9-0 MMA record, was out of the UFC in 2023 and then again worked his way up, got back to the gym, and put together a five-fight winning streak with four finishes that landed him back in the UFC. He won battles in XMMA 6: Bash At The Beach, Front Street Fights 26, Rizin FF: Rizin Fighting Federation 45, and UFL, among others, to get back into the biggest fight promotion made by Dana White— so his tenacity is unparalleled. However, when he entered UFC again, the promotion welcomed him back with a challenging fight against Taylor Lapidus.
Even though he lost two back-to-back fights against Taylor Lapidus and Elijah Smith, both via unanimous decision, Morales is pumped up. As per UFC, the Oregon native said, “The one thing I know how to do is fight. I may not win all the time, but I can get out there and go fight.”
MGM Grand Garden Arena, LAS VEGAS, NV – December 9: Raul Rosas Jr. steps on the scale for the ceremonial weigh-in at MGM Grand Garden Arena for UFC 282 -Blachowicz vs Ankalaev: Ceremonial Weigh-ins on December 9, 2022, in Las Vegas, NV, United States. Photo by Louis Grasse/PxImages Louis Grasse / SPP PUBLICATIONxNOTxINxBRAxMEX Copyright: xLouisxGrassex/xSPPx spp-en-LoGr-lrg2212091337790_UFC282_weighins
Nevertheless, the recent fight is of a different style against Rosas Jr, who has lost just one fight in the UFC and in his career so far. He also wants to break the record of Jon Jones by being the youngest UFC champion before he turns 23, since ‘Bones’ became the champion at 23. ‘El Nino Problema’ achieved the UFC contract at just 17, and by the looks of his resume, he has not come here to play. He has excellent grappling and amazing submissions, and he is not someone who will just hold his opponent down. Rosas Jr. tries to look for submissions and will bury the opponent to the ground if he can.
The 10-1-0 bantamweight star only has one loss in UFC against Christian Rodriguez at UFC 287 via unanimous decision. Other than that, he is running on a 3-fight winning streak and coming off a unanimous decision win against Quileng Aori. So clearly, the odds are in the Mexican star’s favor.
Rosas vs. Morales breakdown and prediction
Well, it looks like the momentum favors Rosas Jr. Vince Morales is already a seasoned guy at 34 and has a lot of experience with good submissions. Morales is gritty and a well-rounded game. However, will he cause a problem for Rosas Jr? Not likely.
‘El Nino Problema’ is definitely better when it comes to grappling and has a takedown accuracy of 39% and Morales has a takedown accuracy of 35%. Rosas has a striking defense of 51% and a striking accuracy of 43%. Meanwhile, Morales has a strike defense of 53% and a striking accuracy of 37%.
So Rosas Jr has an upper hand in grappling, but Morales might pose a threat to the 20-year-old if he can stop the takedowns, keep the fight on the feet, and try to pick apart the 20-year-old. On top of that, Rosas Jr is still young, and he has a long way to develop his game and technique with age. He is a magnificent grappler even at 20 with crisp technique and perfectly timed entries.
So, the Mexican star might win by submission in this fight, a repeat of his win over Ricky Turcios. All he has to do is not repeat the mistakes he made against Christian Rodriguez. Even though numbers rarely lie, anything can happen inside the cage. What is your take on this fight? Will Rosas Jr win as he fights on his home soil in front of his crowd at UFC on ESPN 64?
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