Paul Felder has seen a lot while working for the UFC, but he's never seen anything like what happened this past weekend.
MMA
Morning Report | Paul Felder calls Raoni Barcelos situation at UFC Vegas 121 ‘by far the scariest’ moment of his career
Published
3 weeks agoon
On Saturday, Felder was on the call for UFC Vegas 121, headlined by a five-round bantamweight fight between Raul Rosas Jr. and Raoni Barcelos that ended up being one of the scariest moments in UFC history.
In the fifth round, Barcelos appeared to suffer some sort of medical episode while Rosas was working on a takedown, going unconscious despite seemingly not suffering any major blow to cause it. Rosas stepped off from Barcelos, who was quickly attended to by the on-site medical team, but the Brazilian fighter remained unconscious for several minutes.
Eventually, Barcelos was removed on a stretcher and taken to a local hospital. A few hours later, Barcelos' coach provided an update saying that Barcelos is conscious, lucid, and mobile, and it seems like he will ultimately be OK. That's great news, especially as, while sitting cageside when it all happened, Felder was not sure that would be the case.
“His neck was all clinched up, and he was unconscious,†Felder said 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.â€
There are still no details about what happened with Barcelos, though that information will likely come out in the coming days. But for Felder, unless all the tests say that what happened was some terrible fluke, he hopes Barcelos won't press his luck and continue fighting after this.
“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.â€
Update. Raoni Barcelos' coach shares medical update after scary UFC Vegas 121 fight ending.
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UFC Vegas 121 highlights.
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SOCIAL MEDIA BOUILLABAISSE
Sean Strickland confirms Nassourdine Imavov is next.
Honestly, it's a fun bit.
Josh Hokit choked out a fan.
Uh oh. That could be a problem.
Lesser known mma movie recs and thoughts?
I watched Beatdown last night having forgotten it existed (starring Bisping, Bobby lashley, Mike swick, Heath herring and Danny trejo) and it was almost so bad it was good, but the constant cuts they needed for anyone to get more than a single line of dialogue out were brutal.
Even danny trejo didn’t bother to try to act in it. Lol. Honestly by the 20 minute mark I was fighting my cat and on my phone more than watching… but the trailers included 3 other old mma movies I’d never even heard of (and since forgot the name of lol).
Ive gotten into collecting physical media and figure i might as well devote a section of my dvds to low budget mma movies… So what are some hidden gems or just plain awful movies starring mma fighters people have seen?
I've been watching MMA since 2002, and Saturday night was easily one of the scariest moments of my fandom. There have only been a few times in 24 years that I've thought, “Oh no, this is it,†and the Raoni Barcelos situation was one of them. Super happy he's OK (or, at least, not as bad as it could be) , and like Felder, I hope I never see him fight again.
Where does Raul Rosas Jr. go from here?
We’re still waiting on specifics about exactly what happened to Raoni Barcelos and what it means for his future, but for the time being, his team and the UFC are saying he’s OK – or, at least, not in immediate danger. That is obviously great news, and hopefully it stays that way.
But, putting that aside for the time being, what about Rosas? The UFC obviously wants to push him and he’s coming off the best performance of his career and a pretty impressive comeback win. He called for someone in the Top 7. Does he get that?
Who do you give him?
Closes in 2 days • 77 total votes
If you find something you'd like to see in the Morning Report, hit up @AlexanderKLee or @JedKMeshew on Twitter and let us know about it. Also, follow MMAFighting on Twitter, Instagram, YouTube, TikTok, Twitch, and like us on Facebook.
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MMA
Movsar Evloev thinks UFC 333 fight with Alexander Volkanovski could be 1st UFC finish: ‘Why not?’
Published
7 hours agoon
October 18, 2026
Movsar Evloev knows fans want to see him win a fight without the scorecards. He could make it happen against Alexander Volkanovski at UFC 333.
This Saturday in Abu Dhabi, the undefeated Evloev makes the walk to the octagon for the biggest fight of his life as he challenges Volkanovski for the UFC featherweight title. Evloev is 20-0 as a pro, 10-0 since making his UFC debut in 2019, so it's fair to say he's earned his shot the hard way. One reason why it may have taken so long for the matchmakers to come around on Evloev is his lack of finishes, as he's yet to score a knockout or submission in the promotion.
UFC 333 would be the perfect time for his first.
“Maybe my fighting style [made it take longer than I expected], but still the most important thing is still winning the fight,†Evloev told MMA Fighting's José Youngs. “Now, I feel like I'm getting better and I've got more abilities to finish the fights and we were working on that since I won my last fight. Even before, it was always fun to finish opponents, but I had tough opponents. None of them is easy to finish. Even just to win them is already a big deal, right?
“Now, maybe my first finish in my first title fight, why not? I have everything to do that.â€
Evloev has also been plagued by bouts of inactivity, but when fight night rolls around, he's delivered, scoring victories over numerous ranked opponents. His past four wins have come against Lerone Murphy, Aljamain Sterling, Arnold Allen, and Diego Lopes, the latter of whom went on to leapfrog Evloev and meet Volkanovski in a pair of title fights.
That success has kept Evloev in the UFC's good graces, even without a standout highlight reel, which can't be said for some notable departures in the past few years, including the undefeated Farid Basharat, who was recently allowed to walk despite a 16-0 record. Evloev was asked for his thoughts on quality fighters not being kept on the roster, and he believes winning still matters.
“I have zero finishes in the UFC, but I'm still in UFC and I'm fighting for the title, so that means that not just finishes is important,†Evloev said. “To show a good fight is also important. Even if you have no finishes, you can show good fight, exciting fight. You can show the beauty of wrestling and there is not just fans of MMA who just wait for blood and something crazy, there are so many good fans who know MMA and they understand and maybe because of them I'm still in the UFC.â€
Volkanovski has suggested Evloev's wrestling won't be enough to beat him, and that the challenger will eventually have to throw down if he hopes to dethrone the two-time champion. For now, Evloev isn't taking the bait, and he's planning to stay the course with tactics that have paid major dividends so far.
Tactics that might just lead to him taking Volkanovski out inside the distance anyway.
“I have a responsibility,†Evloev said. “My whole republic, my whole country waiting for me to bring that title. OK, so for me, all of this is more important than just my ego, so maybe I will take the belt and then we will play around, like taking risks or something.â€
“Even if I knock him out, not because my wrestling doesn't work, but because it works very good, so I will make him tired,†he added. “Then, when I feel, OK we can knock him out, then I will try and knock him out. But he's saying he will take my confidence. Nobody can.â€
MMA
Henry Cejudo: Alex Pereira has skipped lines long enough
Published
9 hours agoon
October 18, 2026
Cejudo believes Alex
Pereira needs more heavyweight victories before challenging for
another
Ultimate Fighting Championship title.
Pereira is scheduled to face Sergei
Pavlovich at UFC
335 on Dec. 12 at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas. However, he
believes he deserved a title rematch against Ciryl Gane, who will
instead defend his heavyweight championship against Josh Hokit
at UFC
334 on Nov. 14 at Madison Square Garden in New York.
Henry Cejudo wants Alex Pereira to win two or three heavyweight
fights before another UFC title shot
Cejudo believes Pereira (13-4) received preferential treatment in
reaching title contention in two divisions. “Triple C†pointed to
Pereira's opportunity to fight Gane for the interim heavyweight
championship in his divisional debut at
UFC Freedom 250. He argues that Pereira must now build a
winning record at heavyweight before receiving another title
shot.
“It's a part of him being spoiled too,†Cejudo said on the “Pound 4
Pound†podcast. “Alex, I'm not picking on you… You’ve skipped
lines; you’ve skipped lines long enough. You’ve had enough
opportunities against Ciryl Gane and you lost. Yeah, there were
illegal blows; I do agree with you on that. But man, that jab from
Ciryl Gane wobbled you. We kind of saw where the fight was going.
It was your debut at heavyweight… I feel like you need to win at
least two–three more fights to fight for the title.â€
Cejudo is not the only former two-division champion to challenge
Pereira's comments about the heavyweight title picture. “Poatanâ€
previously alleged that former fighter and commentator Daniel
Cormier promoted Gane vs. Hokit at the UFC's direction. Cormier
denied the accusation.
MMA
Henry Cejudo claims Brendan Allen’s wife dragged his wife into their feud
Published
1 day agoon
October 17, 2026
Cejudo doesn't want families to be involved in his ongoing feud
with Brendan
Allen.
Cejudo and Allen are both married to Brazilians. However, the
former
Ultimate Fighting Championship two-division titleholder has
previously criticized Allen for representing Brazil in the Octagon.
Cejudo also slammed Allen for playing it safe when asked about
fighter pay, leading the latter to label the former's podcast
“trash.†Their wives are now seemingly involved in the
back-and-forth.
Henry Cejudo says Brendan Allen's wife sent ‘nasty' messages to
his wife
After Sean
Strickland's latest outburst about UFC fighter pay, Allen was
asked about the same after his win over Christian
Leroy Duncan at
UFC Vegas 122. Allen opted against criticizing the promotion,
drawing a strong response from Cejudo, who now claims the UFC
middleweight's wife has gotten involved in the feud.
Cejudo claims his wife received a “nasty†message from Allen's
wife. The Olympic gold medalist doesn't want their families to be
involved.
“Brendan Allen's wife sent a nasty message to my wife,†Cejudo said
on the “Pound 4 Pound†podcast. “Me and him are both American,
married to Brazilians, and have American kids… She just went off; I
don't want to repeat it. What I will say is, don't bring my family
into this. Let men be men.â€
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