Raoni Barcelos has been through a battery of tests since his phantom KO loss to Raul Rosas Jr in the 5th round of their incredibly hard fought fight at UFC Fight Night 289, but he still doesn’t have an official diagnosis for why it happened.
The 39-year-old Barcelos was actually ahead on the scorecards against the 21-year-old Rosas in the final round of a back-and-forth war when suddenly the Brazilian was rendered unconscious after a seemingly innocuous takedown.
Even repeated replays struggled to pinpoint what caused him to be KO’d, and meanwhile things only became more alarming as Barcelos continued to remain out cold for a prolonged period of time, before being taken away in a stretcher and rushed to hospital.
Thankfully Barcelos did eventually regain consciousness and after a few days in hospital was able to return home, but he’s still none the wiser about what actually happened.
“Unfortunately, we don’t know what happened,” Barcelos told MMA Fighting. “It was a sudden illness. I fell ill and I felt my whole body really starting to go numb. After that, I don’t remember anything. I only remember [arriving] in the ambulance, asking my father what happened, and him trying to explain it as best as he could. It really was an unfortunate [circumstance]. I got sick and to this day we still don’t understand. I’m undergoing a battery of tests here in [Las] Vegas. I had another on Monday and we’re waiting for a good result. The doctor hasn’t released the results yet and everything is being kept confidential. But I feel better every day.”
Barcelos was able to attend last weekend’s UFC event at the Meta Apex with his family and has even had a chance to meet up with his opponent Rosas Jr, but at this stage it’s unclear if and when he’ll be able to return to the Octagon.
