Dana White on Raul Rosas Jr.’s First Defeat: ‘He’s Got a Lot of Growing to Do’

The hype slowed for Raul Rosas Jr. on Saturday night.

The 18-year-old prospect started quickly, then hit a wall in a unanimous decision loss to Christian Rodriguez in their bantamweight bout, which opened the pay-per-view card at UFC 287 in Miami. Rosas Jr. issued a brief statement on his Instagram stories after the defeat.

“My bad bros,” Rosas wrote. “I didn’t have the energy to do what I know or even try. Things happen for a reason (and) God knows. My opponent was better tonight. Thank you guys.”

Rosas Jr. generated plenty of attention when he received a UFC contract at 17 years old after a victory on Dana White’s Contender Series last year. He followed that up with a first-round submission victory against Jay Perrin in his Octagon debut at UFC 282 in December, perhaps raising expectations to an unreasonable level. His loss at UFC 287 tempered that outlook somewhat, but the UFC president pointed out that it isn’t the end of the world for a still-developing fighter.

“He’s got a lot of growing to do,” White said at the UFC 287 post-fight press conference. “He’s got a lot of work to do. People love him. This isn’t as damaging to him — nobody really goes undefeated in this sport. It’s very, very hard to do. But he’s got to get back on the horse and keep going.”

Rosas Jr. was relentless in the opening stanza against Rodriguez, landing three of eight takedowns while banking an early lead on the scorecards. That was a pace he simply couldn’t maintain, as Rodriguez kept his composure and gradually took control in the grappling exchanges over the final 10 minutes.

“There’s this thing with 18-year-old strength and 25-year-old man strength. The other kid was a really good grappler,” White said. “This kid [Rosas] has a ton of room to grow. Tonight was a good experience for him. That’s what this sport is all about. He was 7-0 but it’s very ,very hard to go undefeated, epecially when you come into the UFC, as young as this kid is. He was right in there. I had it 2-1, and he’ll get better.”