Raoni Barcelos Still Has No Diagnosis After Scary UFC Collapse, Won't Rule Out Retirement
Three weeks after losing consciousness mid-fight, Raoni Barcelos still has no answers and says retirement is on the table.
Raoni Barcelos is still searching for answers weeks after one of the scariest moments in recent UFC history.
The 39-year-old bantamweight was ahead on all three scorecards heading into the fifth round of his UFC Vegas 121 main event against Raul Rosas Jr. last month. Then, during a grappling exchange against the cage, Barcelos suddenly lost consciousness. Referee Herb Dean stopped the fight, awarding Rosas Jr. a technical knockout, and Barcelos was removed from the Octagon on a stretcher before being rushed to a Level 1 trauma center.
Barcelos told MMA Fighting that the episode felt like a "sudden illness." He said his body went numb before he lost awareness, and he remembers little beyond riding in the ambulance and asking his father what had happened.
Despite ongoing medical testing in Las Vegas, doctors have not identified a cause. Barcelos said his results are confidential but that he feels better each day. When asked about his future, the veteran was candid: retirement has not been ruled out.
Barcelos entered that fight riding a five-fight win streak and holds a 22-6 overall record with notable UFC wins over Said Nurmagomedov, Cody Garbrandt, and Payton Talbott. He has competed in the UFC since 2018.
Rosas Jr. and Barcelos recently reunited in Las Vegas. Rosas posted a photo on Instagram, praising Barcelos as a warrior and writing, "Nothing but respect for you, brother."
This one hits different when you live in Vegas. Barcelos was winning that fight. He was piecing up a kid half his age and looking like a guy who finally put it all together at 39. Then he just went out, mid-round, for no reason anyone can explain yet.
I have watched enough combat sports to know that when a fighter collapses like that, you hold your breath until you hear he is OK. Three weeks later, no diagnosis is genuinely unsettling. The fact that he is even entertaining the idea of fighting again before doctors can tell him what happened tells you everything about the mentality of these guys.
Credit to Rosas Jr. for the class move, linking up with Barcelos after. That photo meant something. But the bigger story here is that a nearly 40-year-old fighter just had his body shut down in the cage and nobody knows why. If the tests come back and the doctors say walk away, I hope Barcelos listens. Twenty-two wins is a career. Your brain is forever.
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