Raul Rosas Jr. Feared Raoni Barcelos Had Died After Fifth-Round Finish
Raul Rosas Jr. said he did not know if Raoni Barcelos was alive in the seconds after their main event ended.
The 21-year-old told Ariel Helwani what went through his head at the UFC Apex on Saturday night. Barcelos was on the canvas and not moving after a fifth-round slam. Rosas checked for breath before he let himself celebrate.
“For a second, I didn’t know, like, if he died, to be honest,” Rosas said.
He then looked closer. The Brazilian’s chest was still rising.
“I checked if he was breathing and I saw, like, his body, like, breathing,” Rosas said. “So I was like, okay, he’s not dead for sure.”
That was as far as the relief went. Rosas sat there and prayed.
“That made me feel a little bit more peaceful, but, like, still, you know, I was just sitting there, praying,” he said. “I just did a quick prayer and hoped that he woke up and went back to his family.”
Rosas won by knockout at 1:38 of the fifth round. Official records list the finish as a slam. Barcelos had been ahead on the scorecards entering the final round of UFC Fight Night at the Meta Apex in Las Vegas.
Helwani asked whether the scene made it hard to feel the win. Rosas did not pretend it was clean joy.
“It was scary,” he said. “But, to be honest, yes, I was happy about my performance, like on the side.”
He said he thought Barcelos would feel the same mix. Sad about the result. Proud of the fight.
“We both went out there and we gave it our all,” Rosas said. “We were willing to do whatever it took to get our hand raised that night.”
He had told his team it would be a war before they walked out. The fourth round almost ended it the other way. Barcelos was on his back, squeezing, and gasping for air without getting the choke.
“He was trying to finish me so hard,” Rosas said. “He was squeezing the whole time.”
Rosas said Barcelos looked wobbly walking back to the corner after that round. He felt the same fatigue. He just sat more of the fourth.
The fifth was his turn to push the pace. He is not claiming a clean medical explanation. He offered what he felt in the clinch.
“When I got a hold of him, he felt like so weak, like he was, like his body was done,” Rosas said.
He thought tiredness had already shut Barcelos down. Then he watched the replay and wondered if Barcelos was already out before the slam landed.
“Now that I see that he was out, I’m like, sh*t,” Rosas said. “Maybe that’s the reason when I voted him, he felt so weak because he was already out.”
Helwani brought up talk that Rosas’s head may have hit Barcelos’s chin on the way down. Rosas said the video shows a head clash from his side. He wants Barcelos to say what he remembers, if he remembers anything.
Barcelos has not given a public account of the finish itself. He has said he is doing well.
The UFC said he was taken to a Level 1 trauma center, given a CT scan, and found stable, alert, and responsive with full movement. His doctor, Gustavo Medeiros, described a sudden illness in the fifth round and said Barcelos was lucid and kept in the hospital for protocol. Coach Davi Ramos said it was not a stroke or a heart attack and that more tests were still pending.
Cause has not been officially declared. Rosas’s version is what he felt in the cage, not a diagnosis.
Rosas is now 13-1. Barcelos is 22-6 after a five-fight win streak ended. The immediate question is not the next booking. It is Barcelos leaving the hospital with the same update he already posted: he is doing great, and a video is coming when he can send one.
