Glover Teixeira says Raoni Barcelos suffered 'traumatic' injury in scary UFC loss: 'Swelling in his brain'

One of Raoni Barcelos' cornermen, former UFC light heavyweight champion Glover Teixeira, revealed that Barcelos suffered swelling in his brain stemming from his frightening UFC Vegas 121 main-event loss to Raul Rosas Jr. in late September.

Barcelos, 39, was hospitalized after suddenly losing consciousness during the fifth round of his bantamweight bout against Rosas at the Meta Apex in Las Vegas. Medical personnel immediately entered the cage and Barcelos was eventually carried out on a stretcher. Barcelos was ahead on all three judges' scorecards at the time of the stoppage, and there appeared to be no obvious inciting blow that knocked him out.

Speaking this week on his Portuguese-language "Overdogs" podcast , Teixeira revealed that doctors diagnosed "some swelling in [Barcelos'] brain," leading the Brazilian's team to believe the veteran bantamweight suffered "a traumatic brain injury, and maybe that swelling caused him to black out. It was the body's defense mechanism."

Teixeira's full comments, translation courtesy of MMA Fighting's Guilherme Cruz :

"It was different because it wasn't a knockout. If it had been a knockout, we're used to that. A fighter takes a shot, gets knocked out, OK, let's take him to the hospital, alright. But this was something that happened out of nowhere, and we started thinking about all kinds of things. Could it have been his heart? Could it have been something neurological? They went in and ran the tests. There was some swelling in his brain, so it was a traumatic brain injury, and maybe that swelling caused him to black out. It was the body's defense mechanism. 'Let's shut this down because this guy isn't going to stop.' His mind was stronger than his body, right? He didn't want to give up."

Uncrowned's Ariel Helwani reported in the hours after the event that Barcelos had regained consciousness and was able to speak, and move his fingers and toes. The UFC issued a subsequent confirmation hours later acknowledging that Barcelos was "stable, alert and responsive, with full movement." Barcelos shared an encouraging update this past Monday, stating that he was "doing great;" he was ultimately discharged from the hospital Tuesday night.

The scary ending to UFC Vegas 121's main event cut short an otherwise impressive performance from Barcelos, who appeared to be just minutes away from extending his UFC win streak to six.

Rosas told Uncrowned this week that he initially feared Barcelos had died in the immediate aftermath of the stoppage.

"I was just sitting there, praying," Rosas admitted on "The Ariel Helwani Show." "I did a quick prayer and hoped that he woke up and went back to his family."

Teixeira acknowledged that Barcelos' fighting future remains uncertain, and that the Brazilian requires additional testing before any decisions can be formally made.

"That's going to be a conversation he'll have with his family and everyone else," Teixeira said. "He needs to undergo all the proper tests to find out what happened, whether it really was a result of the trauma from the fight. It's a decision that has to be made with a lot of care and caution."