Bantamweights
Raoni Barcelos (16-3, 5-2 UFC) vs. Trevin Jones (13-8, 1-2 UFC)There is still the chance he turns things around towards a legitimate championship run, but Barcelos’ UFC career might be falling into the what-if category. At 31 years old when he made his UFC debut in 2018, Barcelos immediately established himself as a prospect to watch with some dominant wins. After a 2019 victory over Said Nurmagomedov extended the Brazilian’s winning streak to four fights, it looked like Barcelos was set for a push towards title contention. Instead, slated matchups against ranked opposition like Cody Stamann, Merab Dvalishvili and Raphael Assuncao all fell apart for various reasons, leaving Barcelos with a string of replacements that served as risky fights rather than opportunities for breakout victories. That finally came back to bite Barcelos with a controversial split decision loss to Timur Valiev in 2021—a setback which was compounded by a subsequent defeat at the hands of UFC newcomer Victor Henry. A well-traveled vet, Henry managed to take the initiative against Barcelos’ typically slow start and managed to stay ahead of him for 15 minutes. Badly in need of a win, Barcelos looks to rebound against Jones, his original opponent for what wound up as the encounter with Henry. Jones was one of a few veterans able to parlay the UFC’s chaotic 2020 matchmaking into a late-notice opportunity and cash in with a few wins. In Jones’ case, that was surprising knockouts of Valiev—later overturned to a no contest due to marijuana—and Mario Bautista. A pro since 2011, Guam’s Jones eventually landed on a game built around opportunistic offense. That paid off against Valiev and Bautista, but subsequent losses to Saidyokub Kakhramonov and Javid Basharat saw each of them outpace Jones and never really let him into the fight. Barcelos’ style is built all around using aggression to overcome slow starts and eventually find some openings to take over the fight, and given how cursed the Brazilian’s career seems to be, there is a chance Jones could land an early knockout blow despite his counterpart’s historical durability. On paper, though, this looks like a fight where Barcelos can do his usual thing, find some momentum and then close the show shortly afterwards. The pick is Barcelos via second-round knockout.
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Dern vs. Yan
Brown vs. Trinaldo
Barcelos vs. Jones
Yusuff vs. Shainis
Castaneda vs. Santos
Davis vs. Borshchev
The Prelims