Raul Rosas Jr. developing game plan to finish Raoni Barcelos

Raul Rosas Jr. believes he has developed a game plan that will help him secure a finish on Saturday night.

With an extraordinary age gap, Rosas Jr. will face Raoni Barcelos; almost an incredible 18 years between them. At different stages of their careers, both men are riding high and bring a combined 10-fight win streak into the octagon when they collide this weekend. But somebody’s run has reached its end, and Rosas Jr. believes he will be the one to get his hand raised.

Despite last losing over three years ago, Raul Rosas Jr. is confident that he and his team have developed a game plan to stop the Brazilian’s late-career surge. The 21-year-old said:

“Usually, we’ll study tape, and I’ll give my opinion, like, ‘This is how I can fight him.’ And with all my team, we discuss. They’re like, ‘Okay, maybe, yeah. But do this.’ So we just put it all together. So, now we have a game plan, and this is to me the funnest part of the week, you know. Going out there and trying to see if it works.”

Game planning has worked for Raul Rosas Jr. throughout his early UFC career. During his last outing, Rosas Jr. earned a unanimous decision victory over Rob Font. Throughout the matchup, the prospect utilized a grapple-heavy approach, knowing Font’s strengths and weaknesses.

Disappointed with himself at not getting a finish this time, Rosas Jr. wants to amend his shortcomings with an eye-catching performance at the Meta APEX on Saturday.

“I studied a lot of fights, and I just knew- I knew it was going to play in that way; that it was going to be not so hard for me to get him to the ground because I saw Cory Sandhagen and Jean Matsumoto [do it], and I just knew that they didn’t have the grappling that I have.”

“So, I was like, if I get to those positions, I think he won’t be able to get up. I would have liked the finish, but here we are, and we’re going to get a finish this Saturday.”