Caio Borralho just wants to fight.
The UFC middleweight division has no shortage of contenders ready to challenge champion Dricus du Plessis. Brazil’s Borralho, however, has suddenly found himself at a standstill since his biggest career win over Jared Cannonier in August. That victory advanced Borralho’s unbeaten streak to 17, with seven of those wins coming inside the Octagon.
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Borralho hoped his first fight of the year could happen at UFC 317 for International Fight Week. Ideally, the Brazilian contender targeted a top-contender clash with Nassourdine Imavov, which he claims was offered by the UFC — only for Imavov to decline.
“I said yes right away,” Borralho told Uncrowned’s “The Ariel Helwani Show” on Wednesday. “I didn’t even give any time to talk with my team. No way. We were waiting for [Imavov] to respond, and then I heard that he said no, that he doesn’t want to fight, that he wants to wait for the belt, that I need to fight a top-five guy first. But he’s a top-five guy. It doesn’t make sense what he’s saying. I just think that he knows that’s the hardest fight for him in the division, and he doesn’t want to take the risk.”
The UFC middleweight title picture is currently uncertain, with rumblings of a potential injury to du Plessis. Borralho said he’s heard through the grapevine the South African champion could be dealing with a broken shin and might not be ready until October. The possible hold-up has led to some social-media interactions between Borralho and the expected next title challenger, Khamzat Chimaev.
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Borralho, 32, saw the opportunity to call for a fight with Chimaev in the absence of any action at the top of the division. He’s yet to hear any responses, but the Fighting Nerds frontman hopes to compete sooner rather than later.
“I’m just lost, bro, to be honest with you,” Borralho said. “Everybody’s ducking. I’m not the one to come here and say everybody’s running from me and they are afraid of me and all that, but all of them know it’s a hard fight for them. They’re all ducking. Robert Whittaker ducked. Imavov ducked. All these guys. I just don’t know what I have to do to fight again.
“This fight against Khamzat, I saw the opportunity when I heard that Dricus was injured, and I said, ‘This is my shot. I need to go there and show that I’m ready, that I’m willing to face anyone, doesn’t matter who, and I asked the UFC for this.’ We’re still waiting for them. We’re still waiting for Khamzat’s response. I think he’s just fighting me if it’s for the belt. If it’s not for the belt, he doesn’t want to fight me. So we’re still waiting for what’s going on.”
Borralho has stayed busy in the UFC thus far in his career, competing two to three times per year. But at this rate, 2025 could prove to be a far less active year.
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Sitting at No. 6 in the official UFC rankings, Borralho expects to challenge someone ranked above him for his next time out. Chimaev arguably makes more sense than Imavov, with the latter sitting at No. 1 and Chimaev perched at No. 3. Ultimately, Borralho said, he’s getting so eager to compete that he’ll even accept a fight out of the rankings if he has to.
“This thing is s***, bro,” Borralho said of the UFC rankings. “Michael Chandler lost four in a row — he’s No. 12 still. There’s Paulo Costa. He didn’t fight for like two years already. He lost four of his last five fights. He’s still in the rankings. This is crazy.
“These rankings are s***, bro. So I’m out. I don’t care about rankings. Give me a ranked guy. Give me an up-and-coming contender. Give me anyone, brother. I don’t f***ing care because this ranking doesn’t mean s***. I’m willing to fight. You can see how desperate I am to fight, right? That’s what I want. I just want to fight because I’m a fighter.”
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