The youngest fighter on the UFC roster is back.
Yes, up-and-comer Raul Rosas Jr. signed with the UFC Octagon in 2022 at just 17 years old and is set to make his third appearance. Now 19 years old, “El Niño Problem”'s next test will be against the much more experienced Ricky Turcios.
According to MMA Fighting's Damon Martin, the bantamweight bout is scheduled to take place at the June 8th UFC Fight Night event. The location has not yet been announced, but Louisville, Kentucky, seems “strongly likely” to hold the card, according to MMA Junkie's Nolan King.
This isn't the first time Rosas Jr. and Turcios have been scheduled to fight. The two were originally scheduled to meet at UFC Mexico City in February, but the matchup was canceled at the last minute after Rosas Jr. withdrew due to illness on the day of the fight.
The UFC attempted to put together a fight again from within the UFC Apex the following weekend at UFC Vegas 87, but the fight never materialized.
Rosas Jr. was last seen at UFC Noche, where he bounced back from his first professional loss to Christian Rodriguez to score a TKO victory over Terrence Mitchell in less than a minute. The finish brought Rosas Jr.'s record to 8-1 just a month later, just before his 19th birthday.
This is a battle between “Dana White’s Contender Series” and “The Ultimate Fighter” where the winner of the DWCS contract will face TUF Champion Turcios.
Turcios, 30, secured a UFC contract on the 29th season of the UFC reality show and won the 2021 bantamweight tournament with wins over Ludovic Chorinian and Dan Argueta.
Turcios has a 2-1 record inside the Octagon since the show ended, with his last fight being a split decision win over Kevin Nativida in November 2022. By the time Turcios stepped into the cage with Raul Rosas Jr. on June 8, it had been 567 days since he last saw “Pretty” Ricky in action.
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