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This article reflects on the panic and fear surrounding Felipe Barcelos's sudden, unexplained loss of consciousness during a fight. Drawing on H.P. Lovecraft's quotes about the fear of the unknown, the author explores the concerns regarding potential medical emergencies like cardiac issues or strokes, contrasting this uncertainty with the known dangers of MMA and the UFC's generally strong safety record.
Editor’s note: The views and opinions expressed below are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of Sherdog.com, its affiliates and sponsors or its parent company, Evolve Media.
One of the quotes I’ve found to be most true in my journey through life is the following from H.P. Lovecraft:" The oldest and strongest emotion of mankind is fear, and the oldest and strongest kind of fear is fear of the unknownWhile Lovecraft utilized fear in the cosmic sense in his writings of the Elder Gods and the Old Ones, it rings no less true on the most human level.
When we come across a problem with which we have no previous experience, panic tends to set in. When it comes down to it, panic is induced by fear. Fear that we’ll do the wrong thing. Fear that we might make the situation worse.
Perhaps even fear that we accidentally do the right thing ... and will be asked to replicate the results.went unconscious for reasons yet unknown. In MMA, we’ve had plenty of scary moments when fighters go unconscious for reasons we know full well. But when Barcelos went out on a mundane takedown with no obvious trauma to his head in the process, it raised a lot of concern among those viewing the incident. Concern ... and fear.
While I'll acknowledge concern is a better word to utilize in this situation, the fact that no one could immediately give an answer as to why Barcelos went out and was unresponsive for so long meant fear was a highly appropriate word in itself. Was it a cardiac situation? Is it possible Barcelos had a stroke in the middle of his fight? Is this a career-ending situation?
Even worse, is it life-threatening? After Barcelos was carried off on a stretcher, all of those were reasonable questions to ask. For a sport as dangerous as MMA, the UFC has a relatively good track record in terms of safety. No one has died as an immediate result of injuries sustained in a UFC fight, but I always want to throw a “yet” at the end of that sentence.
That isn’t to say I’m blaming the UFC for whatever happened to Barcelos in the cage. He had fought brilliantly for over 21 minutes up to that point, clearly winning the fight against a promisingAll indications were that Barcelos was as healthy as you can expect a 39-year-old athlete to be. But what happened after it became apparent something was unexpectedly wrong with Barcelos ... that’s a different story.
I’ll be the first to admit that I don’t know everything medical personnel were doing with Barcelos after the fight was stopped. After the instant replays seemed to show Barcelos went out for unconfirmed reasons, the cameras were kept off him. Were they performing CPR on him? If they weren’t, should someone have been doing that?
There are a lot of questions to ask because there wasn’t much transparency surrounding the situation. Not that I blame the UFC for not wanting to keep the cameras on Barcelos in such a delicate situation, but it also opens the door for valid questions about the response.
I won’t say whether the medical response was right or wrong, but the UFC damn sure can’t shy away from any questions anyone might have.went in to interview Rosas following the contest, and Rosas didn’t acquit himself well in the process. Given Rosas is only 21, I’m willing to give him a little bit of leeway, but I also can’t excuse everything.
Given there was genuine concern we may have seen the last of Barcelos as he was stretchered out, Rosas probably shouldn’t have asked the crowd to throw back a “chi-wee-wee" to him. Bragging about how he has arrived ahead of schedule at the tender age of 21 doesn’t come across well either, given the victory only came to him through freakish means.
He was down on the scorecards and needed a finish, something onlyhad been able to do to Barcelos in the UFC. For the MMA Gods to present him the gift of the victory he received ... a little bit of humility might have been called for. I suppose a little bit of elation is understandable for hanging in there as long as he did, but Barcelos’ life was on the line for all we knew.
Perhaps more responsibility should have fallen on Felder. Maybe the commentator needed to pull the youngster aside prior to the interview for a few seconds and explain that he may want to keep a somber approach. But to be fair, that isn’t really Felder’s responsibility, or at least it shouldn’t be. Perhaps Rosas’ coach should have relayed that to him?
Maybe it would have been better if the UFC didn’t do the interview at all, preventing Rosas from being put in a no-win situation. As unfair as it might have seemed to Rosas, it’s not like it was a victory he wrested away from Barcelos. As I’ve already said, it was a gift.. They were all smiles on the post-fight show despite no one having a clue what was going on with Barcelos.
They did exhibit a degree of somberness and promised to provide an update on Barcelos as soon as they knew more, but to have smiles on their faces after that? Not the right route to go down. I’m willing to bet they were frozen in fear, didn’t know how to react and went to their default mode, so I don’t want to be too harsh on them. But it was still the wrong call.
While I wish how the UFC responded to a situation like this would have remained an unknown, that’s not the case. There were clearly mistakes made, and the hope is they learn from the situation. It’s also possible enough time goes by before something similar happens again that they completely forget any lessons learned. Maybe fighters can also learn from this.
Maybe go check outbroke his leg against him. Hall couldn’t have been more humble and respectful. Of course, Hall was a grizzled veteran and Rosas is still a kid. What we can all agree on is this: We’d all like to know what happened to Barcelos and whether he’ll be all right.
It sucks not knowing. Kevin Vallejos rejects ‘robbery’ claims in Ailin Perez winUFC gives update on Raoni Barcelos after scary stoppageJustin Gaethje shuts down Ilia Topuria ‘quit’ narrative after UFC 250Sean Strickland says Nassourdine Imavov rematch is ‘almost there’20-0 Rajabali Shaidullaev agrees to two-year MVP deal, per report
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