Sean O'Malley advises Raul Rosas Jr. to take two years off to improve

Sean O'Malley thinks Raul Rosas Jr. should take some time off and work on his craft after UFC 287.

18-year-old Rosas suffered his first loss to Chris Rodriguez by unanimous decision in this past Saturday’s main card opener in Miami. Rosas stormed out of the gate for a takedown and was able to quickly take Rodriguez’s back. But when Rodriguez fought off the choke, Rosas slowed down and was beaten up for the remainder of the fight.

Rosas (7-1 MMA, 1-1 UFC) came in with a ton of hype, but O’Malley thinks the moment was too big for him.

“I called that. I said I think Christian Rodriguez is going to be too much,” O’Malley said on his Timbo Sugar Show podcast. “(He) trains at a good f*cking gym. Doesn’t mean Raul Rosas Jr. is done, but I mean, where do you go from here? Maybe you don’t even sign him at that age – you let him fight for two, three years, rack up some more wins. … But UFC, that’s the risk they’re willing to take. ‘Hey, we’re going to have a potential star.’ He still can be. I don’t know.

“I said he’s going to come out frantic, try to do what he does probably to most people at the gym: take him down, take their back, choke them. But if not, he’s going to gas. He can’t keep that pace.”

While O’Malley thinks there are still some winnable fights for Rosas in the UFC, he suggests he solely focuses on building himself in the upcoming years.

“There’s definitely guys in the division that he can go out there and beat,” O’Malley said. “I don’t even think he needs to go out there and get a win. He needs to go out there and and get better. Take two years off. Lift. F*cking grind. … I think he should stay at 135. Just don’t fight for a couple of years. Get good. Just improve everywhere (and) come back.”

For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC 287.