Julian Erosa's Monumental March

“My mom was going to come into town, and so we were just like, you got to do it,” said Erosa. “How many people out there work their jobs and have kids? There's probably hundreds of UFC fighters that have kids that have had to deal with this. So I'm not a rare case; I just buckled down and got it done. And there's a lot to say about my wife, who helped out a lot right after the birth. She came out healthy, and we were able to get through it pretty easily and I was able to focus on the fight week.”

And with a new mouth to feed, that focus was taken to new heights as Erosa prepped for Ramos.

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“Honestly, it gave me more motivation,” he said. “I feel like the way it turned out worked out fantastic for me because I’m already pretty cool, calm, and collected when I go in there. But I had an overwhelming sense of calm about going in there because I just watched my wife do probably the hardest thing she's ever done physically, emotionally and mentally just a week prior. So to watch her do that and then to go and fight, something I love to do, it gave me a better perspective. And I was even more relaxed than I have been and it gave me motivation to really go out there and try to get the win.”

Erosa got his win, submitting Ramos nearly midway through the first round. But it wasn’t as easy as it sounds, as he had to overcome some early adversity before closing the show on the Brazilian. But that’s why fight fans love the 34-year-old.

“Our fight was only a little over two minutes long, but that two minutes was so action packed, and it's very emotional jerking people from one side to the other,” said Erosa. “They see me get rocked, they see us clinch up, they see us strike a little bit more and they see me choke him out within a two-minute period. And I feel like that really brings the excitement to the fans and even to other fighters. When I watch fights like that, when I have an investment in one of the fighters and they get dropped, but they come back, it just makes me even more satisfied about that fight because it just shows that they pushed through the adversity and were still able to get the win when things weren't necessarily going their way. So even though I wish I could just dominate bell to bell every single fight, that's just not the case. But I feel like it kind of works to my advantage, especially in the sense of being a fan favorite, and having the UFC like me as one of their employees that win, lose, or draw, ‘Juicy J’ is always going to have a fun fight to watch.”

And he’s going to have plenty of stories to tell AJ someday.

“Hey son, remember that time when I fought a week after you were born…”