Caio Borralho knows he’s on the precipice of big things in the Ultimate Fighting Championship’s middleweight division.
The Fighting Nerds product earned the most signifcant victory of his career to date in the UFC on ESPN 62 headliner, as he weathered a game effort from Jared Cannonier to capture a unanimous decision triumph on Saturday night at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas. Borralho nearly finished the contest in the fifth round to put a stamp on his seventh consecutive promotional triumph. The Brazilian known as “The Natural” came away quite pleased with his performance against a former middleweight title challenger.
“I wasn’t there to grapple. I was there to bring fire and be comfortable in the danger, because Jared’s a very dangerous opponent,” Borralho said at the post-fight press conference. “My jab was was on point, my calf kicks were on point, and I just did the job. I almost got the finish.
“I think the ref should have finished it, should have stopped the fight [in the fifth round] because Jared was [hurt] very bad, but it is what it is. I’m very thankful to be there [for] 25 minutes with one of the best in the world — and tell me one guy that did that to Jared. Tell me. There’s no one that did that to Jared the way I did it.”
Borralho now believes he is ready to take his place among the elite in the UFC’s middleweight division.
“I think [this win] takes me to one of the best in the world,” Borralho said. “Like, I’m Top 5 right now. At least, I deserve a Top-5 spot on Tuesday. And I think I proved myself as one of the best in the division — that I can strike. That I cannot only grapple, I can strike. I have the grappling, I have the wrestling, I have the durability, I have the chin, I have the power.
“I think I showed everyone that tonight, and it’s just going to take me to my belt. 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 fight for the title], at least when there’s a conversation about who’s the next one, my name is going to be around there. I know that.”
Borralho is likely behind Sean Strickland, and potentially, the Robert Whittaker–Khamzat Chimaev winner, in the middleweight championship queue. That’s fine with the surging Brazilian, who knows that he is at least part of the conversation.
“I want a title shot, that’s for sure, but I’m a company man,” Borralho said. “Whoever Hunter [Campbell] and Dana [White] send me to fight, if they’re people above me or something like that, like the fight that I deserve, the fight that’s going to put me even more close to the belt, I’m going to take it, because I’m the company man.”
