Rosas Jr vs Barcelos: at 21, the youngest main eventer in UFC history meets a 39-year-old on 5 straight wins
Rosas Jr vs Barcelos headlines UFC Vegas 121 on Saturday September 26 at the Meta APEX in Las Vegas, over 5 rounds at bantamweight. Raul Rosas Jr, 12-1 and 21 years old, becomes the youngest fighter ever to headline a UFC card. Raoni Barcelos, 22-5 and 39, arrives on 5 straight wins, 2 of them over men fighting each other on the same night.
Key takeaways
- Raul Rosas Jr (12-1), ranked 12th, faces Raoni Barcelos (22-5), ranked 13th, in a 5-round bantamweight main event at UFC Vegas 121 on September 26.
- Rosas Jr is on 5 straight wins and becomes the youngest main eventer in UFC history; Barcelos has also won 5 in a row, including Montel Jackson and Cody Garbrandt.
- The card also features Vieira vs Bryczek, the TUF 34 strawweight final between Melissa Amaya and Tina Black, and Dumont vs Perez, ranked 4th and 5th.
Rosas Jr vs Barcelos: the age gap and the 5 rounds
A record before the first bell
Rosas Jr turns 22 next month. By headlining on Saturday, he becomes the youngest athlete ever to main event a UFC card, and his stated goal is to become the youngest champion in UFC history. He is 6-1 in the UFC and has won 5 straight, the last a unanimous decision over Rob Font in March.
Control first
According to the UFC, he holds the highest control time percentage in bantamweight history and absorbs fewer than 1.5 strikes per minute. Of his 12 wins, 6 came by submission. The unknown is the distance: this is his first fight scheduled for 5 rounds.
18 years between them
Barcelos is 39 and has been in the UFC for more than 8 years, with an 11-4 record there. He has been the distance in 10 of his last 12 fights and won 7 of them, which is exactly the kind of long fight Rosas Jr has never been dragged into.
Barcelos and his 5-fight run
Wins over names
His streak includes Cody Garbrandt, Payton Talbott and Montel Jackson, whom he beat by split decision in April after surviving a knockdown and landing 6 takedowns. Every one of those fights asked a different question, and Barcelos answered them on the scorecards.
2 of his victims on the same card
Montel Jackson and Ricky Simon, both beaten by Barcelos, meet each other on the prelims. It is a strange piece of matchmaking: 2 men trying to climb back past the fighter now headlining above them.
What the ranking says
Rosas Jr is 12th, Barcelos 13th. A win does not put either of them in title contention straight away, but in a division this crowded, a main event win over a ranked name is the fastest way into the top 10.
It's been four straight decisions for Barcelos, but they've been against some certified standouts.
The rest of UFC Vegas 121 and how to watch
The main card
Rodolfo Vieira meets Robert Bryczek at middleweight, Melissa Amaya, 9-0, faces Tina Black in the TUF 34 strawweight final, and Brady Hiestand finally meets Rinya Nakamura, winner of the first Road to UFC bantamweight tournament, after their 2024 booking was cancelled by injury.
A ranked women’s bantamweight fight
On the prelims, Norma Dumont, ranked 4th, faces Ailin Perez, ranked 5th, for position ahead of the division’s title fight in November. Dumont’s 6-fight streak ended in April against Joselyne Edwards, while Perez arrives on 6 straight wins.
Times and the app
The prelims start at 5 p.m. ET and the main card at 8 p.m. ET, on Paramount+ in the United States. Full records and our weekly ratings for every fighter on the card are in the FightHub app, to download before Saturday.
