If Saturday night's UFC Fight Night main event isn't compelling enough with a pair of red-hot bantamweights each bringing five-fight win streaks into their first headlining opportunity with the hope of announcing themself as a legitimate title contender, the contrast in age between them makes it all the more interesting. In what amounts to a modern-day record for the biggest age gap in UFC history at 18 years, 21-year-old rising star Raul Rosas Jr. (12-1) will take on 39-year-old Raoni Barcelos (22-5) inside the Meta Apex in Las Vegas in the first scheduled five-round bout for both inside the Octagon. For the record, the largest age gap in promotional history took place at UFC 4 in 1994 when 28-year-old Royce Gracie fought a man nearly 24 years his senior in the form of 51-year-old Ron Van Clief.
But those were different times during a much more raw, barbaric and incubational period that was more spectacle than sport for mixed martial arts. FC numbered event and UFC Fight Night is included with your subscription! Plans start as low as $8.99/month or $89.99/year!
Rosas-Barcelos is a matchup between two superior ground specialists from much different backgrounds who took much different roads throughout their respective careers to get to this fight. The 21-year-old Rosas is steadily maturing into a high-level fighter after previously setting UFC records by becoming the youngest fighter to sign a contract (17 years, 11 months) and the youngest to win a UFC fight (18 years, 2 months). In just seven walks to the Octagon, Rosas has already accrued the fifth most takedowns (32) in UFC bantamweight history and owns the highest control time percentage (56.9%) that the division has ever seen.
Rosas, a native of Clovis, New Mexico, who was still in high school when he fought on the "Dana White Contender Series" in 2022, believes he has consistently overcome a lack of life and fight experience by training with some of the top fighters in the world, including fellow bantamweight Marlon "Chito" Vera, who will be in his corner on Saturday. "I get all the experience from the gym," Rosas told CBS Sports on Tuesday. "Every round that I do with high-level fighters, I know it's another round for me to get experience.
Just being able to spar people like 'Chito' throughout my whole time I've been in the game, all those rounds with Merab Dvalishvili, it shows me that I can do this in this game. All those rounds, to me, count like experience so that when I get to the fight, I'm experienced enough to beat them." Both Rosas and Vera made an agreement after meeting for the first time in Brazil that they would never fight one another in the UFC and, instead, would focus on improving each other in the gym. Rosas also has gained constant seasoning by being part of a fighting family.
His brother, 23-year-old Jessie Rosas (8-2), made his UFC debut earlier this month in a first-round knockout loss to Sean King and their oldest brother, 24-year-old Kevin Rosas (7-2), currently fights in CFFC and Raul believes he will be in the UFC soon. They even have an older sister, 29-year-old Kenia Rosas Martinez (3-4), who has been a pro fighter for a decade and once fought current UFC strawweight champion Mackenzie Dern on the regional scene. Barcelos' road to his first UFC main event came with much less fanfare and has largely become one of MMA's feel-good stories in recent years.
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