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Introducing Raul Rosas Jr: The youngest fighter in UFC history

Raul Rosas Jr

Seventeen-year-old Rosas Jr. earned himself a UFC contract after a superlative performance in Week 9 of Dana White's Contender Series this week.

The undefeated American - fighting out of Eddie Bravo's 10th Planet Jiujitsu in Las Vegas - is already six fights into his professional career.
This week, Rosas Jr. faced 25-year-old Mando Gutierrez at APEX in Las Vegas and put on a jiujitsu clinic in front of UFC overlord Dana White.
The bantamweight notched up over ten minutes of control time over the three rounds to ultimately win a unanimous decision victory, becoming the youngest fighter to win in the DWCS.
But more impressive was how the teenager did it, as he landed a spinning back kick, survived multiple guillotine attempts, faked a flying knee to get a takedown, fought off his back, almost executed a slick Suloev Stretch submission and made Gutierrez wear him like a human backpack - all at a relentless pace.
"I've never seen anything like it," White said at the post-fight press conference.
"He's absolutely positively talented, he's special, he's different. At 17-years-old, you just don't see kids that age handle themselves like that.

"Just everything that kid did impressed me, and 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."

UFC like to back a winning horse, fueling the hype train by releasing Rosas Jr's fight on their official YouTube channel on Wednesday.
The California native isn't bad on the mic either, already exuding confidence...
"I'm the new king in here, so I'm coming for that belt now," he told the press.
"I will become the youngest UFC champion. If I could fight a top five in my UFC debut, I would, but I have to work my way up there, and I will be up there soon. I will become the youngest UFC champion when I'm like 19, 20, 21. It doesn't matter."

If Rosas Jr. is to realise that dream, he has five years to dethrone Jon Jones as the youngest UFC champion ever. Jones collected the light heavyweight belt at the tender age of 23 in 2011.

However, the fresh talent should be under no illusions as to the challenge that awaits him, as the UFC's bantamweight division is currently stacked. For example, waiting for Rosas Jr. in the lower half of the bantamweight rankings are the likes of the undefeated Umar Nurmagomedov (Khabib'scousin), knockout artist Sean O'Malley and the dangerous Song Yadong.

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