Considered one of the top prospects in the bantamweight division,
Raoni
Barcelos had a five-bout UFC winning streak snapped at the
hands of Timur
Valiev at UFC Fight Night 190 this past June.
Barcelos lacked the volume of his opponent, but he authored the
fight’s most decisive moment when he floored Valiev twice in the
second frame. Ultimately, he was unable to secure the finish and
Valiev escaped with a majority decision triumph.
“I was one punch away from deciding the fight in the second round
and let it escape,” Barcelos told Sherdog.com. “But that defeat was
a great learning experience for me and it opened my mind, just
increasing my desire to train more and never letting the fights go
to the judges. That’s what I´ll focus on Saturday.”
Originally slated to face Trevin
Jones, Barcelos will instead meet Victory Henry on short notice
in a bantamweight contest at UFC Fight Night 199 at the UFC Apex in
Las Vegas on Saturday. The opponent change didn’t faze the former
Resurrection Fighting Alliance champion, who has faced multiple
cancellations during his promotional tenure.
“Actually, I saw that as a blessing that Victor
Henry accepted on one week’s notice. I was already considering
not fighting,” Barcelos said. “I’m used to having opponents
switched in all my fights. Before Trevin
Jones I was training for another opponent.”
The former Brazilian wrestling and BJJ national champion isn’t
attempting to hide his game plan for Henry, a 26-fight veteran with
experience in organizations such as Rizin, Deep and Pancrase.
“I had little time to study him,” Barcelos said. “But I know he is
very experienced, having skills in all areas, so I’m planning to
impose my game and not let him destroy my dream of being a UFC
bantamweight champion.”
Barcelos also commented on the exploits of rising bantamweight star
Sean O’Malley, who is coming off a first-round TKO of Raulian
Paiva at UFC 269. Former training partner Alexandre
Pantoja commented that O’Malley “wouldn’t last one round” with
Barcelos
in a recent interview.
“Pantoja was a great training partner and friend,” Barcelos said.
“I think O´Malley proved in the fight against Raulian that he is
such an intelligent fighter with great striking and amazing
distance control. I would love to fight him, but I’m not in the
rankings yet. If the UFC puts him against a good grappler, like
Merab
Dvalishvili, he will have a real test.
“I believe a lot in the philosophy of my school, Ruas Vale Tudo. If
my opponent punches and kicks, I grapple. If he is good at
grappling, I take him to striking. That’s how I fight and that’s
how I intend to reach the top of the division.”
If he is victorious on Saturday, Barcelos would like to revisit a
booking against Raphael
Assuncao. The two were scheduled to meet in February before
Assuncao withdrew from the bout.
“We were close to fighting and he had to withdraw. He is still in
the rankings. If we both win, I think that would be a great fight
to have next.”
As far as the future, Barcelos likes former training partner
Jose
Aldo’s chances of ending 2022 with bantamweight gold. He sees a
championship coming his way a little bit beyond that.
“It´s amazing to see what Aldo has been doing for such a long time.
He is still evolving and I think he would be a favorite against
[T.J.
Dillashaw] or [Dominick
Cruz]. For everything he did in MMA, Aldo deserves to finish
his career with that title,” Barcelos said.
“My time will come. My goal is to fight three times in 2022 and by
2023 be at the top of the bantamweight division fighting for the
title shot. Sooner or later I´ll reach my goal of being UFC
bantamweight champion.”