“This is just like another fight,” said Rosas. “It’s more exciting because it’s at T-Mobile, but I’m not nervous or nothing like that. I’m just excited and looking forward to it.”
Teenagers aren’t supposed to be this cool about fighting grown men in front of an arena full of fans on the biggest platform in mixed martial arts. But Rosas has been doing this kind of thing ever since he was a kid, when he saw his father fight and got hooked immediately.
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“When I saw him fight, I remember how the crowd was cheering him on and I saw the process, like him being backstage and getting ready to fight, and I knew that’s what I wanted to do,” said Rosas. “Right after he got out of the cage, I told him that I wanted to fight.”
Raul Sr. supported his young son’s ambitions, with only one rule:
“He told me ‘You just gotta train hard.’”
Rosas trained hard and trained as much as he could, and it wasn’t long before he – and everyone around him – realized he had something special.