Paul Felder was in the broadcast booth for Saturday night’s UFC Fight Night 289 event at the Meta Apex in Las Vegas, and he’s declared that Raoni Barcelos suddenly falling unconscious after being taken down by Raul Rosas Jr. was the scariest KO he’s ever seen.
That’s a big declaration given that Felder is a veteran of the sport and sees KO’s all the time as a UFC color commentator, but given that there was no obvious explanation for why Barcelos had gone out cold it left him fearing the worst.
“His neck was all clinched up, and he was unconscious,” Felder recalled on the Believe You Me podcast. “And it looked like he was — I thought he had a heart attack, off the bat. Then they came in, and they checked his pulse, which was terrifying to see. I have never seen somebody that was KO’d, where they come in and the first thing they did, the doctor put his fingers right on Raoni’s pulse. I was like, ‘Oh, this is really bad.’
“He was just not getting up, and then I’m thinking, is it a stroke? Is it a heart attack? But if they weren’t doing CPR and his pulse was at least there and present, and he’s breathing, probably not a heart attack. …
“That was by far the scariest thing I’ve had — I’ve seen some nasty knockouts, guys out for a while, but they come to. To see somebody where the doctors are checking your pulse, it just kind of really puts it in perspective, too, what this sport is at its roots.”
Thankfully the 39-year-old Barcelos has since issued an update from hospital saying that he’s ok and is just going through the process of getting tests before being released, but Felder believes this was a sign that it’s time to hang up his gloves for good.
“They should give Raoni, like, another five [hundred thousand] on top of [the Fight of the Night bonus] for whatever, because that might be it for him,” Felder said. “I think, no matter what, I’d love to see him retire. Hey, your body gave out on you to some degree. Unless it comes back that it was just some fluke thing, but to get rushed to the trauma center, and you’re 39? …
“There’s still just so many questions out there on what really went down, and if they even know. That’s the scarier part: what if they can’t even pinpoint what exactly caused that? You’ve got to be done with combat sports. And if so, what a career this guy’s had. At 39, what a resurgence he’s had.
“Thoughts and prayers to his family. I really hope he’s OK. It was really sad to see.”
Despite Felder’s concerns, Barcelos has already indicated that he intends to continue competing, and given that he was on a five-fight winning streak before-hand, and was up on the scorecards against Rosas Jr prior to his collapse it’s understandable why he’s not ready to quite just yet.
