Raul Rosas Jr. has already accomplished a lot at the age of 19 and can now proudly claim to be the first winner at UFC 306 inside Sphere after scoring a points victory over Aoriqileng.
He nearly got a win in the first round after gaining a takedown and hoping for a submission, but Aoriqileng defended well enough to get out of the bad position. Nothing came easy in the three-round fight, but repeated takedowns and ground control helped Rosas win, and all judges scored the fight in his favor, 29-28.
“It’s an incredible feeling,” Rosas said after the win. “I’m making history and I’m only 19 years old. I’m only 19 years old and I have all these people behind me. Dana (White), it’s time to sit down with the kid and talk numbers.”
Rosas seemed to have no trouble striking early on, but less than two minutes into the fight, he got his first takedown that sent Aoriqileng to the floor. From there, Rosas began to pound away with ground-and-pound strikes to the head and body to loosen up Aoriqileng’s defense.
While he continued to punish Aoriqileng with his strikes, Rosas eventually moved forward to take side control and then quickly jumped into the mount position. Rosas immediately attempted a rear-naked choke after locking in the body triangle while Aoriqileng was stuck in survival mode.
In his dominant position, Rosas thrashed around violently, but before he could deliver the decisive blow of the round, time ran out.
On the restart, Aoriqileng successfully fended off some early takedown attempts, but was also cautious about letting his hands go to avoid another fight with Rosas. As time went on, Aoriqileng hit Rosas with some hard right hooks that definitely caught the attention of the 19-year-old up-and-comer.
As the bantamweights continued to pound on the feet, Rosas decided for a moment to just bite down on his mouthguard and swing heavy leather, but after getting hit a few times by Aoriqileng, he went back to grappling. But Aoriqileng refused to hit the mat again and pushed Rosas off of him as the fight continued in the middle of the cage.
That all but changed as the final round began, when Rosas quickly applied a body lock and knocked Aoriqileng down for the second time in the fight. Although Rosas maintained control on top, he was unable to break through Aoriqileng’s defenses as easily as he had earlier in the fight, so he opted to trade blows until the final siren sounded.
It was another solid win for Rosas, although he probably didn’t put in the performance he would have wanted to win a decision, with Aoriqileng the clear favorite on Saturday night. Ultimately, a win is a win and Rosas will be hoping this latest performance secures him a top 15 spot in the near future.
