There was a huge grappling clash between Dagestan and Mexico that was about to happen but seems like the plans have been dismissed by Dana White. Muhammad Mokaev might not have been signed again by UFC after he completed his contract but he was set to grapple Raul Rosas Jr. soon and even posted about it on X.

The undefeated 6-0 Dagestani Flyweight star wrote on X, “Young Blood vs. Young Blood. Dagestan vs. Mexico. Who can guess this matchup? It’s a grappling match.” The Mexican prospect even replied to this call out saying, “Back in the grappling scene. Contract signed, this match will be [fire].”

However, all their plans for grappling seem to have been shelved for now since there was the latest update from Mokaev about the cancellation of the grappling match. The Brave CF fighter posted on X about the cancellation along with a poster of the fight. He coupled it with the caption, “I have a lot of respect towards @raulrosasjr. Unfortunately, UFC didn’t let him compete. I wish you all the best bro!”

This mega-clash was supposed to take place at ADXC 6 in Abu Dhabi. The previously announced match between UFC bantamweight contender Umar Nurmagomedov and former Bellator champion Eduardo Dantas was canceled and then the rising star Raul Rosas Jr agreed to grapple Mokaev. He took up this fight with just 7 days’ notice but now according to the Dagestani, the fight is off.  The Bantamweight prodigy is the youngest fighter to have been signed by the UFC in 2022. Since then, the Mexican has had a 4-1 record, as a UFC bantamweight to enhance his professional MMA record to 10-1 by the age of 20.

‘El Nino’ and  ‘The Punisher’ even have 6 submissions to their name which could have made this grappling match a delight to see.  However, it seems like the young star has to wait a little more to fight Mokaev. In the meantime, let’s see how Raul Rosas Jr got his big breakthrough at the DWCS and how he escaped death!

Raul Rosas Jr had narrowly escaped death and now he is the youngest UFC star.

The 10-1 record fighter has won 5 fights in the UFC already including a fight against Qileng Aori at UFC 306 but he also won the biggest fight of his life and it was against death. Before the UFC Noche, the promotion had made a video about him where the young Mexican -American star’s family spoke about his life before MMA.  It was during this emotional conversation that his family revealed that a 7-year-old Rosas practically died from a severe burst appendix that they could not detect.  Why was it undetected though? Well, it is because our champion always had high endurance and never complained about his severe stomach ache to his family.

Thankfully his father insisted on taking Rosas to the doctor and the burst appendix was discovered. The  7-year-old was then rushed to the ER as he revealed, “They took me to a city that was an hour and a half away in an ambulance. I remember waking up, and I think I was supposed to die within a few hours.” And thankfully he survived but he not only escaped death but also took part in an MMA contest just weeks after the surgery! The 20-year-old said in the video, “After being in the hospital for a few weeks with my appendix, we went to a tournament where my father was going to compete. When I got there and saw kids my age signing up, I told them to sign me up too. Because I wanted to compete. I felt no pain; I was just excited to do something I liked. I remember that I didn’t even know a single submission. But I wanted to fight kids my age. And I did very well.” 

He is surely a powerhouse of endurance and skill and he knows it. ‘El Nino’ even said that he wanted to become the youngest champ and retire by the time he was 25. In the interview with ESPN, he said, “I just want to accomplish my dreams, which is to become the youngest UFC champion, have the belt, defend the belt a few times, and then probably retire.”  Do you think he will be able to fulfill his well-set-out goal?