Preview: UFC Atlanta ‘Usman vs. Buckley’

Bantamweights
Cody Garbrandt (14-6) vs. Raoni Barcelos (19-5)

Odds: Barcelos (-180), Garbrandt (+150)

What to make of Garbrandt in 2025? We're now nearly a decade removed from Garbrandt's 2016, a breakout year that feels like a bit of a fever dream in retrospect; Garbrandt strung together three first-round knockouts and seemingly got rushed into a title fight to capitalize on Team Alpha Male 's feud with then-champion Dominick Cruz, only for Garbrandt to author a massive upset in a dominant decision victory. The sum of Garbrandt's 2016 performances showed exactly how electric he could be at his peak, possessing an elite level of quick-twitch athleticism that allowed him to outmaneuver opponents and strike back with some absolutely thudding power. The expectation seemed to be that, with the win over Cruz, Garbrandt could go on to become one of the UFC's signature stars, but instead everything went south going forward, starting with his two-fight feud against T.J. Dillashaw; Garbrandt nearly finished Dillashaw early in their first fight, only for Dillashaw to adjust and continually stay one step ahead of Garbrandt, scoring a second-round knockout of Garbrandt in the first fight before quickly running him over in the rematch. Garbrandt's inability to adjust would quickly become a theme in the rest of his career and subsequent spiral downwards; the conventional wisdom that Garbrandt had a weak chin might have been a bit much, but his insistence on marching forward and attempting to get one back meant that he demanded on eating a level of punishment that few could survive. After a string of four knockout losses in six fights, Garbrandt reinvented himself during a long layoff ahead of a 2023 fight against Trevin Jones, during which he seemed to have overcompensated; this time around, it was an unnecessarily passive fight that saw Garbrandt less willing to pull the trigger than ever. The good news is that Garbrandt seems to have at least found a balance in his last two fights, a quick finish of cold starter Brian Kelleher and a loss to Deiveson Figueiredo where he did some decent work early, but it's still not hard to think of what could've been heading into this fight against Raoni Barcelos.

Barcelos is another fighter whose career is defined by what could've been, though in the Brazilian's case that's more due to missed opportunities; Barcelos came to the UFC at age 31 with an athleticism-dependent and pressure-heavy style that looked ready to immediately compete, but had some major matchmaking opportunities fall through and subsequently started racking up losses once his athleticism started to wane. The UFC's mostly used Barcelos to test top prospects in the last few years, which has made it nice to see him rack up two straight wins, most notably a massive upset of Payton Talbott in January; Talbott was rightfully touted as one of the best prospects in the sport, but got outworked by Barcelos's wrestling-heavy approach. That fight featured the rare hot start from Barcelos, who's typically been more of a fighter that gathers his reads over time, and a similar performance could result in him quickly getting the jump on Garbrandt and turning this into a grind. But even if it's not always advisable, it's still hard to bet against the former bantamweight champion's combination of speed and power against an opponent that figures to offer some early opportunities; the pick is Garbrandt via first-round knockout.

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Usman vs. Buckley
Namajunas vs. Maverick
Shahbazyan vs. Petroski
Garbrandt vs. Barcelos
Abdul-Malik vs. Brundage
Menifield vs. Sy
The Prelims