After being forced out of last year’s Noche UFC, Raul Rosas Jr. finally got to throw down with Rob Font at UFC 326, in a veteran versus prospect match-up.
Finally 21, Rosas Jr. had made his debut in the UFC at 18 after earning a UFC contract on the Contender Series as a 17-year old, the youngest fighter to ever do so. So far, he’d won five of six assignments in the company, but Font represented another step up in competition.
The two met in the middle of the octagon where we found Rob Font with a very different stance then we’ve seen in him before, keeping it low, clearly looking to avoid the take down. You saw some exchanges in the early moments of the first round, although it wasn’t long until Rosas Jr. secured the single leg and sat Font down halfway through the first round.
Font looked to make his way back to his feet, but was unable to break the hands of Rosas Jr. who kept a tight body lock continuing a mat return every time Font managed to get back to his feet. Rosas Jr. ended the first with plenty of control time, but no damage landed
Starting off the next five minutes in a very similar fashion, Rosas Jr. found the take down in the opening minute of the second round. Font found a quick reversal but Rosas Jr. did what he does and was able to scramble out of the bad position landing back on top, inside of Font’s guard.
Immediately Font went to the high guard, really trying to break and control the posture of Rosas Jr. Not finding much success, Rosas Jr. continued to beat Font in the scrambling game. Font attempted a kimura in the final minute of the round but not much came of it. You could see that Font came prepared for the grappling exchanges as far as his conditioning looked, but there were a lot of small details he was missing in his defense that could have made a big difference.
Rob Font entered the final round continuing with the low stance. Although the game plan made sense it did seem to have affected the legs a bit causing him to react a little slower to Rosas Jr’s takedowns.
Rosas Jr. once again found the takedown in the first minute of the final round. Font sprawled hard but just kept giving Rosas Jr. the takedown. Rosas Jr. ended the fight with 16 successful takedowns on Font.
In the post-fight interview, Joe Rogan asked Rosas Jr. about his game plan heading into the fight. Rosas Jr. said he had been looking for a knockout but quickly realized the grappling exchanges were coming too easily. There were never many significant strikes landed that truly threatened a knockout, especially against a veteran striker like Rob Font. In the end, the young Rosas Jr.’s elite grappling proved to be the difference and secured him the victory.
Official result: Raul Rosas Jr. def Rob Font via Unanimous Decision (30-27×3)
