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​​By Elias Cepeda





​ ​ UFC featherweight star Charles Rosa (11-2) is finally set to fight for the first time in over a year when he takes on undefeated Shane Burgos (8-0) April 8 at UFC 210 in Buffalo, New York.



Rosa tells FloCombat this isn’t just the longest he’s gone without a fight in his MMA career—it may be the longest scrap drought of the 30 year old's entire life.



“Yeah, honestly, this is probably the longest I’ve gone without fighting in my life because I fought as a kid, too,” Rosa laughs during a break in his South Florida training camp.



“I’ve fought my whole life. Now that I’m in the UFC obviously I don’t fight anyone on the street, but yeah, this is the longest I’ve been out without a fight, ever. When I was an amateur I would sometimes fight every two weeks. I was 18-2 as an amateur. I was fighting every weekend. One time I fought five times in a month, driving all over the country with Charles McCarthy. I love to fight and that’s why I do it, so that’s why I was kind of frustrated not fighting for a year. “



The “Boston Strong” American Top Team member says he has no idea why it took so long for him to get booked again, especially considering how he’s won two out of his last three contests. Beyond that, Rosa tells us that he accepted several short-notice offers from the UFC in the past year, including fights against BJ Penn and Ryan Hall, only to have those offers pulled from him after he agreed to them.



Rosa says he’s been healthy this whole time and ready and waiting for a fight, adding to his dismay.



“I’ve been asking for a fight," he said. "I’ve been healthy the whole time. I’ve won two out of my last three, with the loss being a split decision to Yair [Rodriguez] in Mexico, his hometown."



Rosa didn’t merely wait around for a new UFC contract and bout agreement, however. Instead, the adventurous young man packed his bags and traveled the world looking to sharpen his sword.



“It was very frustrating, very stressful but it didn’t stop me from doing what I do, and that’s training,” he explained.



Rosa added three international training trips to his daily American Top Team training in the past year, returning to the Netherlands and his coach Stefan Berkenpas for some Dutch kickboxing work, two months in Thailand to immerse himself in Muay Thai, and some hard rolling at teammate Alessio Sakara’s Rome gym.



Rosa’s voyage to Thailand was his first, and while he called the beach-laden areas he visited “the most unbelievable place” and the chef in him loved the fresh and delicious food, the fighter most appreciated the intensity of the training he found at Rawai Muay Thai in Phuket.



“The training was some of the most intense training, overall, that I’ve ever had,” Rosa said. “It was mandatory that you run five miles every morning when you wake up, before training. I’d wake up at 6 a.m. before the sun came up and run five miles every single morning, which is insane.



“So, you’d get up and run a little bit, then do two hours of pad work and conditioning. The most beneficial thing for me in Thailand was the clinch training. They would do clinch drills like how we do wrestling and jiu-jitsu. They would just do live clinch drills for an hour, straight. The gym is outside, it’s 100 degrees outside and you have to do clinch drills for an hour. It’s like jiu-jitsu, the best way to get better is rolling with people who are better than you. They’d pair me up with their champions, and these guys were on a whole other level. I learned a ton of stuff out there.”



While touring Italy from Florence all the way down to the island of Capri, Rosa found plenty of good training, including some work with Sakara’s team and friends.



“Every city I would stop in I would just find an MMA gym,” he said. “Everywhere I’ve been in my life so far I’ve found an MMA gym or a boxing gym, at least. Sure enough, when I went to Rome to see the Colosseum I thought, ‘Damn, I wonder if Alessio Sakara is here.’ I contacted him, and he said, ‘Oh you’re like five minutes away!’ I thought, ‘Hell yeah,’ and I went to his gym. I got some awesome rolls in with some good guys. Luis Costa, who is a really nasty black belt from London, also happened to be there, so I got some good training with him.”



Rosa’s most recent trip to the Netherlands featured a return to the beautiful Northern coastal city of Leeuwarden, home to coach Stefan Berkenpas and his Kyokugym. Rosa has spent months there in the past, and Berkenpas has coached and cornered the fighter for some time now.



Though an ocean separates them, Rosa explains that superior technical instruction is why he always gets back to Berkenpas when he can.



“I love it up there with Stefan. The best way to describe him is, Stefan is a black belt in striking,” he said. “I know they don’t give belts in striking but man, Stefan Berkenpas is like a grandmaster. He’s a legend of a coach. Not only does he have the technique, but he has students who prove that technique. Stefan has a lot of fighters, a lot of good fighters, but some of his students aren’t even fighters but they are so technically sound. You go with them and think, ‘Man, if this kid who isn’t even an athlete is this good, you know it’s from the coaching.’ There [are] guys there under Stefan who may not even be a real athlete and they’re still whooping your ass.



“Stefan has kids in high school who are throwing and they are technical. You have to give credit to the coach, because the guys in the United States aren’t like that.”



Beyond the technique, Rosa appreciates the sage and sometimes entertaining wisdom that Berkenpas always shares with him.



“Stefan’s technique is superb but he’s also very wise,” Rosa continued. “He always gives me really good life lessons. Stefan always has a good quote for me every day. One time I asked him, 'Hey coach, do you think I should go for a run before training?’ He told me, ‘Well, if you want to be a good runner, go run. If you want to be good at kickboxing, then you kick box.’ (laughs) He gives good analogies and helps me understand things. He’s a very good coach.”



One might expect a warrior-traveler like Charles Rosa to have to learn to adapt to different gym cultures depending on what city or nation he trekked to. In fact, the real-life Ryu tells us, “If you can survive at one gym, you can usually survive at any gym.”



When it comes to martial arts, Rosa says he’s found that respect and hard work are international languages.



“That’s the one thing I’ve noticed all over the world – the culture in every gym is pretty much the same,” he concluded. “I’ve been to every type of gym. Some gyms they try to take your head off, like in Melvin Manhoef's gym in Amsterdam, they’re going to try and kill you in there. But there, and at every gym I’ve been to, as long as you give respect, you get it. You go in, you train hard, you respect the people and it’s all the same.”



To Rosa, being a Brazilian jiu-jitsu black belt and a successful UFC fighter doesn’t mean a thing if he can’t keep an open mind and a humble heart.



“As long as you respect them and don’t act like you’re too good for them, or know more than them, you’re fine,” he said. “Even though I’m in the UFC and am a black belt in jiu-jitsu, if I go onto the mats I’m bowing onto the mats, I’m respecting everybody. Sometimes there’s not even a black belt teaching the class but I still line up and pay my respect. If they ask me to help, I will, but I don’t go in there knowing everything because I don’t. That’s why I’m a mixed martial artist – because I want to be always learning.”