Caio Borralho was one of the four fighters who bagged a $50K bonus at UFC 301. With a second-round knockout of Paul Craig, Borralho made a statement victory. In his octagon interview with Daniel Cormier, the Brazilian called out veteran UFC middleweight, an ex-title challenger.
Borralho had called out Jared Cannonier at UFC 301. When he called out Cannonier, he was unaware of Cannonier’s fight booking against Nassourdine Imavov. Nonetheless, Borralho was a recent guest on the Show me The Money podcast, where he revealed the reason for the callout.
When I got my fight in Contender Series…it was against a light heavyweight guy, and I knocked him out. Yeah, so I fought Michał Oleksiejczuk too, and he was top 15 in the light heavyweight division, and I finished him. And then I got Paul Craig, who was a light heavyweight too, and he was ranking in light heavyweight, and I KOed him. So, I think two divisions is not enough for me, you know? I want on a guy that fought in three divisions, so that’s why I called Jared Cannonier.
Caio Borralho via Show me The Money podcast
In addition to the mentioned reason, a fight with Cannonier would enhance Borralho’s title aspirations. Borralho accepted Cannonier as a scary opponent but felt ready to take on the top contenders in the division. However, Borralho knew a fight with Jared Cannonier wouldn’t be next due to the ranking disparity.
In addition to Borralho, Michel Pereira had an impressive performance at UFC 301 in the middleweight division. Pereira and Borralho are now 13 and 12 in the middleweight rankings. The division will see some shift in rankings as Sean Strickland vs. Paulo Costa and Khamzat Chimaev vs. Robert Whittaker are right around the corner.
Caio Borralho speaks on upcoming middleweight fights
The UFC’s middleweight division became wide open when Israel Adesanya lost the title to Sean Strickland. Dricus Du Plessis defeated Strickland to become champion and will likely fight Adesanya next, potentially at UFC 305 in Australia.
Caio Borralho (Image via: Instagram)The winner of Khamzat Chimaev vs. Robert Whittaker would be the next challenger. Caio Borralho, who trained with Chimaev, previewed the fight in his interview on the Show me The Money podcast.
I don’t think that his [Robert Whittaker] style matches with Khamzat [Chimaev], you know? I think Khamzat has a big pressure style, great wrestling background. I think one of the best wrestlers that I have ever trained with. So, I think with the appearance that Robert was doing [against Paulo Costa] and with the style of Khamzat, I think this fight is all Khamzat, I think.
Caio Borralho via Show me The Money podcast
Borralho felt Robert Whittaker was on a decline. The Brazilian didn’t see any improvement in Whittaker in his last two fights, even though he won against Paulo Costa recently. Moreover, Borralho also predicted Strickland vs. Costa.
I think it’s not a hard fight to predict. I think [Sean] Strickland is going to dominate because it’s a fight that is a five-round fight. We know that Paulo [Costa] gets tired. It’s a three-round fight, and I think the only thing that Strickland needs to be paying attention to is the high kicks.
Caio Borralho via Show me The Money podcast
Borralho stated Costa was flexible and could effortlessly throw a head kick without telegraphing. Aside from that, Borralho didn’t see any threat Costa could pose to Strickland. Interestingly, Borralho stated Costa doesn’t have a win over currently ranked middleweights and should not be on the top 10 rankings.
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