Rosas Jr. to headline UFC Fight Night vs Raoni Barcelos at Meta APEX on Sept. 26
Raul Rosas Jr. will headline UFC Fight Night against Raoni Barcelos at the Meta APEX in Las Vegas on Saturday, September 26, becoming the youngest fighter to ever main event a UFC card. The matchup sits atop a stacked 12-fight card that also concludes Season 34 of The Ultimate Fighter.
The card returns to the promotion’s regular home at the Meta APEX just days after a show at Crypto.com Arena in Los Angeles and features finals in both the men’s bantamweight and women’s strawweight brackets from TUF 34. Prelims are led by a rematch between Montel Jackson and Ricky Simon, and the event includes a co-main slot and multiple bouts with stylistic contrasts across the card.
Rosas Jr. arrives with a five-fight winning streak and a 12-1 professional record built largely around his grappling. He holds the highest control-time percentage in bantamweight history and gives up fewer than 1.5 significant strikes per minute on average.
Raoni Barcelos is a 39-year-old Brazilian veteran with a 22-5 record and five straight wins, including a decision over Montel Jackson earlier this year. Barcelos has gone the distance in 10 of his last 12 fights and is described in the promotion’s preview as a durable, well-rounded veteran Rosas Jr. has not yet faced at this level.
In the co-main event, submission specialist Rodolfo Vieira is seeking to snap a two-fight skid while Rober Bryczek will aim to keep the fight standing to build on a knockout-heavy UFC run. The prelims slate also features the Montel Jackson vs Ricky Simon rematch cited as a highlight of the early portion of the show.
The two TUF 34 finals carry separate storylines: the men’s bantamweight and women’s strawweight finals will close the season, with Osmanli and Akylbek both undefeated in the competition and Amaya arriving unbeaten as the season’s breakout story.
The card will be held at the Meta APEX in Las Vegas, Nevada, the promotion’s regular home venue. In the US, the event streams live on Paramount+. International viewers can check the broadcaster list above for their region.
The event takes place on Saturday, September 26, with prelims starting at 5:00 PM ET / 2:00 PM PT and the main card following at 8:00 PM ET / 5:00 PM PT. For more updates, follow Khel Now on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Youtube; download the Khel Now Android App or IOS App and join our community on Whatsapp & Telegram.