Author Elias Cepeda writes a regular column for The UG Feed; you can find him on Twitter @EliasCepeda.
Nothing has come easy for featherweight Charles Rosa since he entered the UFC as an undefeated prospect back in 2014. His first call up to fight in the major league promotion came on just days’ notice to take on then top ranked Denis Siver in Europe, and just this past fall Rosa made his successful return to competition after two and a half years spent out of the Octagon and convalescing from a career-threatening neck injury.
It is precisely because Rosa has dealt with so much unpredictability over the course of his career that the American Top Team fighter says he’s been able to deal with the terrifying uncertainty of preparing to fight on this weekend’s UFC 249 in Jacksonville, Florida, in the midst of the deadly COVID-19 pandemic.
It seems like with every one of my fights there’s some crazy story, he says. From my first [UFC], one where I got offered a fight on short-notice in Sweden against a top-10 opponent and had to lose 30-something pounds, to my next fight which was in Boston and getting my first UFC win at home. Then there was the crazy one against Yair Rodriguez in Mexico City, and then a fight in Japan where my opponent missed weight, then my last fight which was my comeback fight after being off for two and a half years. It’s always something, that’s just how it is. There is always pressure for each fight. I got my confidence coming back from my injury and scoring the biggest win of my career.
Last October Rosa did what some doctors thought would be impossible, or at least imprudent, and fought again after neck surgery and a long recovery. Rosa returned with a vengeance and scored a first round armbar submission over Manny Bermudez on October 18th.
His next fight was originally scheduled to come May 2 in Oklahoma against rising undefeated star Bryce Mitchell, but almost from the start the event and bout were under threat by the emerging COVID-19 pandemic and resulting sporting event cancellations, state and local shelter-in-place orders, and business shutdowns.
Rosa and his team were resolute on training for the fight even as they were uncertain they’d get it. Ultimately, the date and location were changed but he got to keep his opponent.
This is the fight I asked for, the fight I wanted, he continues. I’ve been able to train the way I wanted with the coaches I need. The pandemic threw a wrench in it but it hasn’t changed my focus.
Now that the delayed event is mere days away, Rosa is comfortable opening up on the challenges he and his team have faced preparing during this dangerous and unstable time. According to Boston Strong the focus he developed over years of persevering despite challenging circumstances has helped Rosa keep the type of myopic view one needs to succeed in a fight training camp.
The world around me is a blur. I know it affects the people around me and it affects me a little bit but I have tunnel vision in camp. One thing I’ve said to a lot of people is that the only thing I’m more scared of than coronavirus is going into the Octagon unprepared, he admits. Imagine going into the cage with no training camp. It would be terrifying, man. I’m always training, which is why I’ve been able to take fights on short notice, but you still want to try and prepare properly when you can. When the gym is literally not open, you worry about where you are going to get your work in.
Fortunately for Rosa, his team and coaches never actually stopped operating, even if it wasn’t always acceptable to talk about it in public. According to the BJJ black belt, there was no sitting, wondering, and waiting with his team, as adjusted training plans were immediately implemented at ATT.
We had a plan in place right away. I didn’t miss any days of training, he reveals. There was one day where we were closed to the public and you had to come through the back door for pro training. My partners are more limited because the only people allowed into training are those getting ready for fights. Normally you might have ten training partners and now you have two to three.
On the other hand, I’ve had all my coaches – my coach Roger, Mike Brown, Charles McCarthy – and because there’s less people in the gym, I’ve had their full attention on me. The situation has almost benefited me in that sense.
Rosa, who is also a working chef, says he’s also been fortunate to not yet struggle financially too much through the pandemic, though he sees fighters around him deal with dire situations when it comes to making ends meet.
It definitely helps having won a performance of the night bonus from my last fight, so I had a little bit stashed away, he goes on. All the smartest people I know invest money in certain things and advised me to but then all the stocks went down and it was like ‘what the f***?’ [laughs] But everything is going to come back and be good. I haven’t been in a situation where I haven’t been able to pay the rent, but there are people around me who it has affected. I try to help out who I can and do what I can.
Even though Rosa is eating and has a roof over his head with another paycheck coming his way in the immediate future, the realities of a crashing economy and global pandemic have added urgency and pressure to his already existing desire to stay active and stack as many fights and checks on top of one another in as short period of time as may be possible.
It definitely puts pressure on me to make sure I’m ready and taking fights all the time for the next year or two because you never know if something crazy is going to happen, he details.
Furthermore, Rosa hopes that people inside and outside of the MMA-sphere begin to realize just how difficult a position even elite UFC fighters are in. As the rest of the sporting world stands still in order to not expose unnecessarily the athletes and workers involved in events, unsalaried UFC fighters are being pushed back into competition in order to keep revenue flowing for the promotion and in order to continue to feed their own families, without the protections that most other major sport athletes have, from year-round healthcare, to pensions, to employee status.
I hope it puts a highlight on fighters, Rosa adds. We’re really the only sport still happening now so with all the other professional sports athletes watching MMA, I hope it puts a spotlight on us and makes everyone think, ‘man, look at how much these guys are getting paid to compete now, with what’s going on and no other athletes doing it.’
What they’re asking me to do is significant compared to what we’re being paid. It’s not the type of thing I usually like to talk about too much, but I do hope what we’re doing now during this pandemic gets highlighted.
Like most of his peers and workers of all types across the world, Charles Rosa is eager to get to do what he loves, even if he’s aware of the inequity of having to do it during a pandemic and the increased risk of COVID-19 infection in order to stay afloat financially. The call to action seems simple and modest – We’re happy to continue to work for you all, just please realize all that we’re doing, and for how relatively little we have to do it for.
With that awareness in the back of his head, Rosa clearly has his personified opponent Mitchell in the fore. The Massachusetts native is clearly looking forward to what could very well end up being a thrilling fight.
I love this fight. I’ve watched Bryce Mitchell come up. He’s young, hungry, talented, had submission of the year. He’s a monster. He’s really good, and tough as nails, too, he allows. That’s what I like most about him. I don’t think he’s the most skilled or talented, but I like fighting the toughest people out there. He’s probably the toughest country boy you can find. I think I’m the toughest city kid you can find. I always wondered who’s the toughest – city boys or country boys. That’s what we get here. It’s a treat. I’m excited as a fan.
Though Rosa certainly appreciates the threats Mitchell brings to bear, he ends our conversation by discussing how he’s evidently offended some observers with confident predictions.
Some people have been offended that when I was asked recently what would happen if the fight went to the ground – that I’d break his arm, Rosa explains. I have seven submission wins by armbar. I meant it when I said it. It’s the same as when people say they’re going to get a knockout. It’s a fight. I’m going in there to fight him. I’m not going in there to be his friend. If he fights me hard, he’ll earn my respect. He doesn’t have it, yet.
