Charles Rosa proved his doctor wrong by returning to action at UFC Boston, but he plans to deliver a more pointed message moving forward.
Boston, MA — Friday night’s UFC Boston card had a couple of comeback stories. Joe Lauzon returned to the cage after over a year away, for one, and earned a huge win. No one, however, was more determined to return than Charles Rosa, who spent an incredible two and a half years away from the octagon dealing with a neck injury.
In that span, Rosa was told to hang them up, defied both the doctors and the odds, and returned at the TD Garden to submit Manny Bermudez within a round. The finish earned Rosa his first Performance of the Night award. Comeback complete for Rosa, who improved to 12–3 with the win. Although the story does not stop there. Now that he’s back, Rosa is gunning for gold.
Speaking to media outlets including Cageside Press backstage following the win, Rosa recalled his final words to the doctor that told him he should call it a career. “The last thing I said to him, because we kind of had an argument when I left, and I ended up going to a different doctor, I told him ‘I’m going to come back, and I’m going to put the belt on your desk one day.'”
“We had it out, I had an argument with the doctor because of some misunderstandings, some things that he was saying to me that I didn’t like,” he added. “That’s what I said to him, those are the last words I said to him, and I plan on doing that.”
Rosa has certainly found success in New England, and is one of the most notable names to come out of the region in years, making his extended absence a bigger blow. “3-0 in the Boston Garden, 8-0 in New England, 5-0 under the CES banner,” he pointed out following his fight with Bermudez. “This is the best feeling in the world. This is what I’ve worked so hard for, this is the moment that I envisioned when the doctor told me that it was improbable that I would come back and make a return.”
“I’m title chasing, I’m coming for the belt, I want a top guy, and I want to be the champion in this division,” he added. “And I want to one day hang a banner, a Charles Rosa – Boston Strong banner from the rafters in the TD Garden.”
Watch the full UFC Boston post-fight press scrum with Charles Rosa above!
