Caio Borralho: UFC on ESPN 62 win over Jared Cannonier 'takes me to one of the best in the world'

LAS VEGAS – Caio Borralho knows he’s capable of being “a big superstar” in the UFC, and he’d love to talk to Dana White about making that happen.

“I just want a meeting with Dana. I think I deserve a meeting with Dana, you know?” Borralho told reporters, including MMA Junkie. “I always see all those guys go inside his room, have a meeting with him, Hunter (Campbell), all those guys, you know? I want to be one of those guys.”

Borralho (17-1 MMA, 7-0 UFC) just might be one of those guys coming out of UFC on ESPN 62, where he dug deep to score the biggest win of his career by out-slugging former title challenger Jared Cannonier in is first main event Saturday night at the UFC Apex.

“I’m very thankful to be in there 25 minutes with one of the best in the world,” Borralho said. “Tell me one guy that did that to Jared. There’s nobody that did that to Jared the way I did it. The durability that I had over the shots that I took, and I kept standing. I’m very proud of my performance.”

As he should be.

Borralho, the face of the emerging Fighting Nerds team in Sao Paulo, Brazil, said his studying of Cannonier paid off in a big way.

“I saw it all coming. Me and my team, we anticipated everything that he ever done,” Borralho said. “That’s why we are The Fighting Nerds. We calculate, we study, and when the test comes we take A+.”

Borralho’s toughness and fight IQ were on display over the course of 25 minutes. He almost got the finish in Round 5 after he dropped Cannonier with a stiff straight left hand. But even without it, he believes he made the statement he was looking to make.

“I think it takes me to one of the best in the world,” Borralho said. “I’m top five right now – at least, I deserve a top-five spot on Tuesday. I think I proved myself as one of the best in the division, that I can strike and not only grapple.”

He continued, “The mantra of this training camp was to show the new champ arrived, and I think I showed that a little bit. If I’m not the next one (to get a title shot), at least when there’s a conversation about who’s the next one, my name is gonna be around there. I know that.”