7 Straight Wins, Now the #1 Contender Fight - Caio Borralho Exclusive UFC Fight Night Interview

We spoke to UFC middleweight contender and Stake Ambassador, Caio Borralho, as he prepares for his main event bout against Nassourdine Imamov at UFC Fight Night.

Borralho will headline the event, live from Paris, on Saturday 7th September.

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This is a massive fight, how excited are you to be headlining again?

Man, this is the biggest fight of my career. Finally after 7 fights in the UFC and 7 wins, it’s time to go for the number 1 contender fight. This is the fight I have wanted for so long, and Imamov has been avoiding it for so long. Now that it’s scheduled, I don’t care if it’s in France or anywhere else in the world, I’m just so excited to showcase my work. I’m very excited, very happy, all of my family and my team will be there and I’m excited to showcase my skills.

Back to back headline slots - is this where you feel that you belong?

Yeah 100%. Since my first UFC fight, I knew that I belong to this kind of promo. I was the co-main event in my first fight, I’ve always been the guy with the most interviews on the card, and I think that this is the spot that I deserve. Second main event, and a big, big fight.

Has the UFC given their word that this is a number 1 contender fight?

No, they didn’t give me their word as this being 100% a contender fight. They booked Fluffy vs RDR and we’ll see who their next contender is. I think they wanted to put some pressure on us to deliver some great fights. I think that if I go and have a boring fight and win, but then Fluffy goes and has an amazing fight, then I think he would get the title shot. But I don’t have to worry about that because my fight itself is already an entertaining fight. Two strikers, with knockout power, going against each other, so there's no way this fight is going to be boring. I think I’ll finish him in the third or fourth round, and if it’s an exciting fight, then I’ll be next.

I’ve been the back up fighter, made weight, then they offered me to fight Imamov on International Fight Week, and I said yes. I said yes to Paolo Costa, Robert Whittaker as well, and I think they’ll consider all of this.

What did you think of Khamzat vs DDP?

I thought he did what Khamzat always does. He got the body lock and he dominated because the other guy had no response to it. This is what he does in all of his training. He does 10 - 15 rounds of grappling, and he always goes to the bodylock. I felt that Dricus fought the wrong fight, he didn’t move himself, he wasn’t feinting, and all of his mistakes made it easier for Khamzat to do his job. I think people don’t know how to fight Khamzat properly. They think ‘Oh I’m fighting a wrestler, so I’ll hire a lot of wrestlers’, but wrestling is 20% of Khamzat’s game. He uses different assets which you need to be prepared for.

How would you look to combat Khamzat’s wrestling?

Gilbert Burns’ fight could be a little bit of a model of the right strategy. There’s also the Kumara Usman fight that you need to pay attention to and implement it into your gameplan.

I know that if he gets a bodylock, he’s going to take me down, but that’s when his system starts, and his system has very clear steps that he needs you to take, for him to advance in the system, or at least keep the system going. You need to identify these steps, so you can deny the steps.

You need to have jiu jitsu to fight him, as Gilbert showed.

Fluffy Hernandez made a big statement in his last fight, were you surprised how he managed to dominate Dolidze?

I was a little bit surprised, yeah! I knew it was a fight that was a bit more in favour of Fluffy because of his well-rounded game. But the way he did it… respectfully, he made Dolidze look like a kid. He did it in a dominant fashion and he chose when he was going to do it. Dolidze was done by the second round, but Fluffy looked like he was playing with his food.

How do you see Hernandez vs RDR going?

I think it’s going to be the same as Dolidze. Dolidze has some better striking than RDR, but they are similar. RDR got tired after 1.5 rounds against Whittaker, and if you get tired like that against Fluffy, he’s going to maul you. I think it’ll be the same fight.

Is this the most exciting the middleweight division has ever been?

Yes, I think so. We have all of these guys in the top 10 that are really competitive, and we have a lot of up and coming guys who are really tough. I am 100% sure that this is the best middleweight division ever.

Outside of the top 10, we have Shara, we have MVP and we have 3, 4, 5 more guys who are great to watch. This makes me happy and proud of myself to find myself at the top of the division.

Carlos Prates got another fantastic finish in his last fight. He mentioned that he wants to fight in Rio in October. Has there been any developments there?

I think the fight card in Rio is already set up, but I think we have better options than Rio, which is a really nice position to be in.

A big talking point is how Carlos continues to smoke. Do you have any problems with it, as his coach / training partner?

I think he is true to himself. A lot of athletes who do smoke, feel guilty about it. When you feel guilty, that will bring your energy down and you won’t perform the way you want. For sure, it’s not the example for the young generation, but he’s true to himself. Also, he doesn’t get tired, man! He does 5, 6, 7 rounds, and never gets tired! Can everybody be like Carlos? No, but he does it! Brazil had a soccer player years ago called Romaria. He was known for partying, but when it came to the game, he was amazing. I think Carlos is Romaria from MMA, and people identify themselves with that.

Ruffy vs BSD is also on the same card as you. How far away from a title shot do you think Ruffy is?

I think if he goes there and finishes BSD, the same way he finished Green, then he is one or two away from a title shot.

Who in the lightweight division do you see as his biggest challenger?

I can say to you that Ruffy is the best takedown defence that I have ever trained with. I have maybe taken him down once in my life, and I’m serious about that! A guy like that, with his striking and his takedown defence is almost impossible to beat.

I think Gamrot and Tsarukyan would be great fights who could give him enough trouble to develop himself enough to become a champion.

Another teammate of yours Jean Silva is fighting next month as well - what is it like to have so many big fights and main events coming out of Fighting Nerds?

Bro, I feel pride. We’ve been training in the shadows for so long.

Now we are the Best Team in the World. The first Brazilian team to win it, and also the first team to win the award without any World Champions in the team. I’m very proud of everyone and very happy to see everyone working hard to feed their families.

We put a lot of work in and to have all of this come back to us is amazing. We have more athletes than just us four though, and people will start to see more of us. It’s going to be even bigger, and it’s really satisfying to see. This is what we were visualizing.

Charles Oliveira is headlining UFC Rio. Do you think it’s too soon for him to return after his last fight?

I think it’s a little bit of everything. Brave, dangerous, and a lot of money involved! Charles is an experienced guy and I hope he manages to train properly before the fight. The only thing that I know is that people are loving it, and I’m going to be there!

Alex Pereira is headlining UFC 320. How do you see that fight going?

I heard in the first fight that Alex Pereira was hurt, so maybe that changed the fight. In the same way, I think Ankalaev did a great job. He fought just how he should have done, without putting in the risk, but I think the next fight we could see Alex fight a bit more. He knows that he can defend the takedowns, he just needs to be more active against Ankalaev at UFC 320, and I think it’s more 50/50 than the first.