Tag: UFC Fight Night: Cannonier vs. Borralho

The future appears to be bright for Caio Borralho after pulling off a decision win over Jared Cannonier in the main event of Saturday’s UFC Fight Night card at the Apex.

The two had a hard-fought battle filled with plenty of strikes. Borralho’s kicks seemed to get the better of Cannonier in the first round before the former title challenger found a groove with his punches in the second.

They were even in terms of striking numbers in the third, but “The Natural” managed to get “The Killa Gorilla” wobbly late in the frame. Cannonier battled back in the fourth round by delivering with his power, forming heavy damage around one of Borralho’s eyes.

The Brazilian managed to gain the fifth round, however, by dropping Cannonier with a one-two in the closing minutes and nearly scoring the finish.

“I caught him with some good jabs, and I think all these jabs hide my left hand, and when I (was) touching with my left hand, he felt (it) all the times,” Borralho told Megan Olivi for ESPN. “But he’s so durable, you know? He’s so tough. He’s been with the best in the world so many years. Crazy. He was in the UFC in 2015. That was the year of my last defeat, my second MMA fight.”

Caio Borralho Claims He Is A New Champ On The Rise

Borralho ventured his way into the UFC after a pair of wins over Aaron Jeffrey and Jesse Murray on Dana White’s Contender Series in 2021. Since then, “The Natural,” representing the Fighting Nerds team, has surged upward in momentum by defeating the likes of Paul Craig, Michał Oleksiejczuk, and Makhmud Muradov prior to Cannonier.

Now with bigger opportunities in his future, in addition to his callout of champion Dricus Du Plessis in the Octagon, Borralho is expecting to be placed in the top five of the middleweight ranking when they’re updated next week.

“I hope to see my name on Tuesday in the top five of this division,” Borralho said. “You know I’m coming for my belt. The mantra of this training camp was to show the new champ arrived. And I think everybody saw that (there is) a new champ on the rising [sic] – a guy that never gives up and (has) all skills.”

• Read More: UFC Fight Night Results & Highlights: Caio Borralho Decisions Jared Cannonier

Caio Borralho represents the Fighting Nerds with pride and continued to do so with the biggest win of his career in Saturday’s UFC Fight Night main event, scoring a decision over Jared Cannonier.

Borralho got Cannonier in trouble during the opening round, picking him apart with his kicks. The veteran contender and former title challenger, however, got himself on the board in the second rframe when he started to find his groove in his punching, which included a brief wobble of “The Natural” late in the round.

The two had an action packed third stanza and were just about even in terms of significant strikes landed, especially to the head. Borralho, however, ended up getting Cannonier wobbly. And even when “The Killa Gorilla” tried to fight back with his power, he stumbled, showing he was still rocked. Cannonier, however, was able to survive the round.

Borralho continued to bring heavy pressure in the fourth round, but the 40-year-old brought his power, landing damaging shots. By the end of the frame, notable swelling could be seen around one of Borralho’s eyes.

But late in the fifth round, Borralho delivered again, landing a one-two that dropped Cannonier. The Brazilian scrambled and got to work with strong ground-and-pound. The American, however, managed to survive the attack and a subsequent choke attempt.

That was enough for the judges, as two scored the fight 49-45 and one 48-46, all for Borralho.

Caio Borralho Rocks Jared Cannonier Twice, Solidifies Himself As Middleweight Contender At UFC Fight Night

Borralho has won all but two of the fights in his professional career thus far. He’s 6-0 in the Octagon after winning a contract through a victory over current Bellator fighter Aaron Jeffrey on Dana White’s Contender Series. He entered this fight coming off a knockout of Paul Craig at UFC 301, and Borralho will now find himself in the mix of top middleweight contenders.

Borralho used his post-fight interview to call out Dricus Du Plessis, who retained his UFC middleweight title against Israel Adesanya at UFC 305 in Perth, Australia, last weekend.

Cannonier, meanwhile, has now lost two straight and three of his last five, stretching back to his unsuccessful challenge of then-champion Adesanya at UFC 276 in the summer of 2022.

• Read More: UFC Fight Night Results & Highlights: Caio Borralho Decisions Jared Cannonier

Jared Cannonier looks to return to the win column this weekend by turning back a UFC middleweight contender on the rise.

Caio Borralho has won six in a row to find himself in this position, but in Cannonier, he faces by far his toughest test to date.

Despite what fans saw from him last time out at UFC 301, where he stopped Paul Craig in devastating fashion, the Brazilian is better known for his grappling skills.

Given the high-level opposition that he has faced during his time competing at both middleweight and several other weight classes in the UFC, this isn’t something that is going to faze “The Killa Gorilla.”

Jared Cannonier Doesn’t Understand Why People Underestimate His Grappling

In a recent interview with MMA Junkie ahead of this weekend’s middleweight main event, Cannonier was asked whether, in his mind, this fight boils down to if he can stop Borralho from having success with his takedowns.

The 185-pound stalwart doesn’t have this point of view and isn’t afraid to let his opponent test his grappling if that’s the way things end up going. He believes that his ground game is slept on by the rest of the division, potentially because you very rarely see opponents try to take him down.

“If he ends up on the bottom, it’s not going to be too good for him down there either, so I got all the confidence in my ground game,” Cannonier said. “I don’t know why people think my ground game isn’t good. I haven’t been submitted in the UFC, I haven’t been submitted in my career.

“When I was green, I fought Glover Teixeira. I spent a lot of time underneath him and didn’t get tapped, and I was green as far as my grappling goes back then,” Cannonier continued. “I’m much better now. I’m attacking you guys. If you guys think you want to take me down, you’re more than welcome to try.”

Cannonier believes Borralho and the rest of the middleweight division could be in for a shock if the ground is where they think his weakness is.

• Read More: MMA Analyst Feels UFC Trying To Cut Costs With Jared Cannonier vs. Caio Borralho Fight: ‘He’s Still On That S**tty Contract’

The Apex-held UFC Fight Night on August 24 finally has its headliner, and it’ll see a pair of top middleweights throw down.

With less than three weeks remaining until the Las Vegas card, the UFC revealed the main event for Aug. 24 on Tuesday, announcing that Jared Cannonier (17-7) will defend his top-five ranking against the fast-rising Caio Borralho (16-1, 1 NC).

The late-notice bout marks relatively quick turnarounds for both men, with the American controversially defeated by Nassourdine Imavov this past June and the Brazilian up-and-comer getting the better of Paul Craig the previous month.

Cannonier Looks To Rebound From Debated TKO Loss, Blemish Borralho’s Perfect UFC Record

When he makes his return for a second headliner of the summer, the #5-ranked Cannonier will look to quickly erase the memory of his difficult setback two months ago.

The former title challenger, who is one of just two fighters in UFC history to record knockouts in three different weight classes, has been pursuing a second shot at the 185-pound gold since falling short against Israel Adesanya in 2022. While that journey got underway well with wins over then-future champ Sean Strickland and Marvin Vettori, his progress was stalled in controversial fashion when referee Jason Herzog deemed him unable to continue following an onslaught from Imavov in their Louisville headliner.

A couple of months on from that widely questioned setback, Cannonier will return for redemption at the expense of Borralho, a Dana White’s Contender Series alum who has risen to #12 in the division’s top 15 courtesy of a perfect 6-0 record inside the Octagon. “The Natural” most recently secured his second performance bonus by knocking out Craig at UFC 301 in Rio de Janeiro this past May.

With this addition, the current fights expected to take place at the UFC Fight Night event on Aug. 24 are as follows:

• Jared Cannonier vs. Caio Borralho (middleweight main event)
• Neil Magny vs. Michael Morales (welterweight)
• Angela Hill vs. Tabatha Ricci (women’s strawweight)
• Edmen Shahbazyan vs. Gerald Meerschaert (middleweight)
• Josiane Nunes vs. Jacqueline Cavalcanti (women’s bantamweight)
• Dennis Buzukja vs. Danny Silva (featherweight)
• José Medina vs. Zachary Reese (middleweight)
• Viacheslav Borshchev vs. James Llontop (lightweight)
• Wang Cong vs. Victoria Leonardo (women’s flyweight)

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