Initially tabbed by trainers and teammates as the natural Brazilian
successor to Jose Aldo as
the future of the bantamweight division, Raoni
Barcelos hasn’t climbed the rankings in the manner many
expected after his UFC debut in 2018.
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After winning his first five Octagon appearances, the Brazilian
jiu-jitsu black belt and national wrestling champion dropped
back-to-back decisions against Timur
Valiev and Victor
Henry. That prompted him to leave Rizzo RVT at the beginning of
2022 to train with former UFC fighter Davi
Ramos.
“Training with guys like Davi and Rousimar
Palhares brought me back to my grappling roots,” Barcelos told
Sherdog.com shortly after returning to the win column with a
decision win over Trevin
Jones in October.
Barcelos next had designs on fighting on home soil at UFC 283 in
Rio de Janeiro, but it wasn’t meant to be.
“Unfortunately it was not possible to fight in front of my family
and friends in Rio, but at least the UFC gave me a ranked opponent
and that’s the most important to me,” Barcelos said.
Barcelos will face the undefeated Umar
Nurmagomedov at UFC Fight Night 217 on Jan. 14 – one week
before UFC 283.
“I like real challenges. I’m really happy that UFC is giving me a
ranked opponent and such a great challenge like Umar,” he said.
Barcelos is not fazed by the Nurmagomedov surname, nor is he
concerned that his opponent’s brother (Usman
Nurmagomedov) and cousin (Islam
Makhachev) are coming off title victories against Brazilians
Patricky
Freire and Charles
Oliveira, respectively. Barcelos already owns a win over
Said
Nurmagomedov, and that gives him confidence heading into a
matchup against an adversary with the same name.
“To tell you the truth I already defeated a Nurmagomedov in the UFC
who is more complete than Umar, who has a great grappling game but
is not as dangerous striker as Said is,” Barcelos said.
Barcelos points to the experience of his sparring partners as an
asset in camp for his American Kickboxing Academy-trained foe.
“Davi
Ramos, Palhares and most of my daily teammates are fighting in
ACA and other Russian events,” he said. “There is no other place to
train in Rio when you are going to face Russians.”