Caio Borralho scored the biggest win of his MMA career in the main event of UFC Vegas 96, coming close to a knockout over one-time title contender Jared Cannonier and then called for a shot at UFC middleweight king Dricus du Plessis.
Borralho realizes it’s highly unlikely that he’s next in line for the belt with Sean Strickland as the probable contender to rematch du Plessis in the near future, but feels that his callout served its purpose despite not guaranteeing him an opportunity.
“This is the third time I call him out,” Borralho said. “Last time I called him out he went on Twitter and said something like, ‘Win two more and we’ll talk.’ I think this is my third or fourth win since then. He has already beaten Strickland, [Israel] Adesanya and [Robert] Whittaker, and the other guys ranked ahead of me have fights booked now.
“I knew maybe I wouldn’t go straight for Dricus, but it would make more noise. And I’m sure that if Strickland gets hurt, my name will be in the conversation for a short notice after this callout. He has already beaten the others. If [Robert] Whittaker beats [Khamzat] Chimaev, [the UFC] will probably call me instead of him.”
Borralho has won seven in a row since joining the UFC, adding to his two victories on Dana White’s Contender Series, and said UFC chief business officer Hunter Campbell told him after UFC Vegas 96 that he “probably needs one more fight” before earning a shot at gold.
“[Campbell] was super happy [with my performance],” Borralho said. “He said, ‘In the top 5 of this sport, you can’t be a guy that quits, that throws caution to the wind and fights reckless, and you showed that today. You showed quality and heart, and we’ll see what we have for you. I don’t know if it’s going to be Dricus, but I’ll find a fun fight for you, and then you’ll go for the belt.’ I’m anxious to see which fun fight is that.”
“I hope it’s Adesanya — respectfully, I’m planting that seed little by little,” he continued. “There’s also Jiri Prochazka cutting down [to middleweight], but I don’t know if it interests me as much as a fight with Adesanya, for example. For now all I want is to rest and take some time off. I fought three months ago and again now, so my body needs a quick break, but I’m anxious to see what the UFC has in mind.”
Adesanya came up short in his attempt to regain the UFC middleweight title for the third time earlier this month, losing via submission to du Plessis at UFC 305 and dropping to 1-3 in his past four appearances. “The Last Stylebender” was 11-0 as a middleweight prior to this stretch, with his only recent loss coming in a 205-pound title match against Jan Blachowicz.
“I know it’s a good fight style-wise for me,” Borralho said. “Like it or not, I have wrestling and jiu-jitsu, and we know Adesanya’s weaknesses. He was dominant champion for so long and has a huge fanbase, he’s gigantic in the sport, one of the biggest stars in the UFC, so imagine fighting this guy. And I’m truly confident that I can win. I can take him to deep waters, especially now that he’s not performing the way he used to when he was in his prime. I think this fight makes total sense, and I’d be very confident going into it.”
Borralho has extra confidence after stopping Paul Craig with punches in May and following it up with a decision nod over Cannonier, and feels he would have gotten the knockout at UFC APEX if he had just stopped hitting Cannonier at the right time.
“The knockout was meant to come, but I think [the referee] didn’t want to risk it after his last fight was stopped too early,” Borralho said, referring to Cannonier’s controversial TKO defeat to Nassourdine Imavov. “If I had raised my hands after the knockdown and walked away, I think he would have stopped it. Truth is, I woke him up. I put him to sleep and then woke him up by hitting him [laughs]. But it was an incredible performance. Everybody saw the knockout and saw that I have cardio for five rounds. Even my biggest haters on Earth saw I have cardio and knockout power for five rounds.”
