Raul Rosas Jr’s UFC Mexico City opponent denounces rebooking reports as “FAKE NEWS,” says “no contract has been signed yet”

A new rivalry may be brewing in the bantamweight division between Raul Rosas Jr. and Ricky Turcios.

After Rosas Jr. pulled out of their intended bout on the main card of UFC Mexico City, play-by-play commentator Brendan Fitzgerald announced on the ESPN+ broadcast that the matchup had been postponed by a week and had been re-booked for UFC Vegas 87. However, Turcios spoke out on social media on February 25th to reject the reports, claiming that no contract had been signed.

In his statement, Turcios claimed he felt 'disrespected' by the pullout from Rosas Jr. just five minutes before their scheduled walkout time.

Turcios wrote:

"FAKE NEWS!! No fight contract has been signed yet for a new date. Last night Rosas Jr. said no fight literally five minutes before the walkout to fight in the octagon. Rosas Jr. said no to facing me in the octagon in front of his 20,000 Mexican fans in Mexico City. Rosas Jr. disrespected the bushido code... very unprofessional."

The UFC appears to be intent on re-booking the matchup, though Turcios does seem to be in a mood for negotiations. Should the fight be confirmed for UFC Vegas 87, the pair of bantamweights would need to travel the 1,700-mile distance up north to Las Vegas before making a second weight cut in two weeks.

As a 19-year-old phenom, Rosas Jr. remains fairly private on social media and has not released a statement on the incident.

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Raul Rosas Jr.'s father releases a statement on social media regarding the fighter's last-minute withdrawal from UFC Mexico City

Although Raul Rosas Jr. did not make a public statement about his late withdrawal from UFC Mexico City, the fighter's father posted an update on social media.

Raul Rosas Sr., the father of the 19-year-old bantamweight, claimed the decision to pull out of the matchup with Ricky Turcios was made as a team and not by the fighter:

"Raul was feeling light-headed, dizziness and had low energy. He still was ready, had his gear on and didn't want to pull-out of the fight, he was still gonna go out there and fight but we as a team didn't let him go out there. His health comes first and if he is not 100% it's not going out there... Thank you all for the support to Raul, he'll be back."

As Brendan Fitzgerald reported live on the event broadcast, Rosas Jr. felt ill all throughout the day and made his best effort to make it to the fight but could not feel ready to make his fourth UFC appearance on February 24th.