Matt Brown believes the UFC’s luck will eventually run out.
The retired welterweight weighed in on Raoni Barcelos’ medical emergency on the latest episode of The Fighter vs. the Writer.
Barcelos lost to Raul Rosas Jr. by fifth-round stoppage in the main event of UFC Fight Night at Meta APEX in Las Vegas on Saturday. He lost consciousness while Rosas was on top of him after a takedown, and the referee stopped the fight. Barcelos stayed down until medical staff took him out of the Octagon.
He was taken to a Level 1 trauma center for a CT scan and further evaluation. The UFC later said Barcelos is “stable, alert and responsive, with full movement” and will remain under medical supervision.
Barcelos also shared a video from the hospital, saying he was “doing very well” and getting all the necessary tests done.
Brown said his first reaction was that the UFC’s worst fear had come close to happening.
The first thing I thought is this is the UFC’s worst nightmare. We know it’s going to happen at some point.
Someone’s going die in there. Someone’s going to [have] a seriously life-changing injury in there. It’s absolutely amazing it hasn’t happened up to this point.
The UFC has never had a fighter die in the Octagon in more than 30 years. Brown gave credit to the promotion’s medical team for that.
You’ve got to give props to the UFC’s medical team. The medicals they require before the fight and they work with the commissions for a long time.
Dr. [Jeff] Davidson, we call him ‘Dr. D.’ These guys have been on top of it. You’ve got to give credit where credit is due. They haven’t had any serious life-changing injuries, no deaths and it’s been more than 30 years now.
Brown was at the event cornering a fighter on the prelims. His teammate Mickey Gall had been pulled from the card by the UFC over a medical issue, which Brown said was not serious.
