Raul Rosas Jr. is now No. 8 in the UFC Meta bantamweight rankings, moving into the top 10 after his fifth-round stoppage of Raoni Barcelos at UFC Vegas 121.
Rosas, 21, was trailing on all three scorecards when he slammed Barcelos to the mat 1:38 into the final round of his first UFC main event. Referee Herb Dean waved off the fight when Barcelos appeared to lose consciousness, and Rosas was awarded a TKO victory. The fight earned Fight of the Night honors, and Rosas (13-1) has now won six straight.
Barcelos, who entered the bout ranked No. 13, is no longer listed in the bantamweight top 15. The UFC said in a statement that he was taken to a Level 1 trauma center and is “stable, alert and responsive, with full movement.” Barcelos has since reassured fans that he is doing great.
Rosas now sits directly behind David Martinez at No. 7 and Cory Sandhagen at No. 6. Petr Yan is champion, with Merab Dvalishvili ranked No. 1, followed by Song Yadong, Sean O’Malley, Mario Bautista and Umar Nurmagomedov.
Other Movement In The Meta Rankings
Montel Jackson stopped Ricky Simon in the second round on the same card and climbed three spots to No. 12. Marlon Vera dropped two places to No. 14, and Bryce Mitchell slipped one to No. 15.
In the women’s bantamweight division, Ailin Perez moved up two spots to No. 2 after beating Norma Dumont by unanimous decision, with all three judges scoring the fight 29-28. Dumont fell one place to No. 3, and Luana Santos also dropped one spot to No. 4. Joselyne Edwards remains No. 1.
Dumont has lost two straight after a six-fight winning streak. In a video posted to her Instagram, she called the verdict “one of the biggest absurdities I’ve ever seen in MMA.”
Elsewhere, Aleksandar Rakic and Shara Magomedov each entered the rankings at No. 15, at heavyweight and middleweight respectively.
The UFC began transitioning its official rankings from a media panel to the Meta system on June 22. The Meta list is calculated from fight data and updates by Monday after every official UFC event.
