Raoni Barcelos collapsed and was unresponsive in the fifth round of his UFC Vegas 121 main event against Raul Rosas Jr. on Sept. 26, then was taken to a local hospital, where he was reportedly awake and conscious. The cause remains unknown.
Sports medicine physician Brian Sutterer said possible causes doctors might investigate included exhaustion, dehydration, electrolyte abnormalities, pressure around Barcelos’ left eye, and traumatic brain injury, including bleeding. These were possibilities, not diagnoses: Sutterer had not examined Barcelos or reviewed his medical records and based his comments on public footage.
Sutterer said a ringside doctor’s pulse check and the absence of CPR or defibrillator use before Barcelos was removed would suggest he had a pulse and was not in cardiac arrest at that moment. He said doctors would also need to consider structural brain injury, and that a prompt CT scan would be important in evaluating the possibility of bleeding.
