Sign up for ESPN+ right here, and you can then stream the UFC live on
your smart TV, computer, phone, tablet or streaming device via the
ESPN app. A big all-Brazil bantamweight battle has been added to a
February
Ultimate Fighting Championship Fight Night card. Sherdog.com has learned from sources close to the situation that
Raphael
Assuncao (27-8) will lock horns with Raoni
Barcelos (16-1). The two bantamweights will come to blows on
Feb. 27 at the UFC Fight Night event in either Las Vegas or Abu
Dhabi, United Arab Emirates. The matchup will likely come with
top-10 implications at 135 pounds for the winner.
The
#9 ranked Assuncao is coming off of three consecutive defeats
to top-ranked opponents Cody
Garbrandt, Cory
Sandhagen and Marlon
Moraes. Although Assuncao has not won a fight since 2018, his
previous run before the setbacks to Moraes et. al was an
astonishing 11-1, with the lone defeat in a rematch with T.J.
Dillashaw in 2016. Throughout his storied career, Assuncao has
posted wins over names including the aforementioned Dillashaw,
Jorge
Masvidal, Joe Lauzon and
Moraes as he has shifted down from lightweight to bantamweight over
the years.
Although currently unranked, Barcelos is on the outside of the top
15 looking in, as he is riding an impressive win streak including
five straight wins in the UFC. His last two in particular came in
very impressive fashion, capturing thrilling decisions against
Khalid
Taha and Said
Nurmagomedov. Before signing with the UFC, Barcelos held the
Resurrection Fighting Alliance featherweight
crown and defended it twice.
The UFC Fight Night event on Feb. 27 is presumably scheduled for
the UFC Apex in Las Vegas, but it could also take place on Yas
Island in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates. It will be headlined by
a light heavyweight rumble between Dominick
Reyes and Jiri
Prochazka. Other billed matchups on the card include a
205-pound scrap as William
Knight takes on Alonzo
Menifield, while Sabina Mazo
faces the returning Alexis
Davis at bantamweight.
