Coming off of the biggest win in his UFC career, beating the #5 ranked Jared Cannonier, Brazil’s undefeated middleweight, Caio Borralho now wants a shot at a legend. Despite earlier claims of wanting a title shot, the Fighting Nerds athlete named ‘The Last Stylebender’ Israel Adesanya as his next target.
In an exclusive to Brazilian YouTuber, Laerte Viana, the undefeated middleweight weighed in on his thoughts on his next UFC outing, wanting to clash with the two-time champion before going for the title.
While he deems that Izzy is now not as focused as he used to be, the Kiwi is one name that has got the Brazilian pumped.
“I think (Israel) Adesanya might be the best fight for me right now. If I had to choose one more before the title, I think it would be Adesanya and then the title.”
Caio Borralho wants to fight Israel Adesanya next 👀
"Maybe [Adesanya's] not the same focused guy he was before, but he's still the same guy with the same technique, skill and dominance…
I think Adesanya might be the best fight for me right now. If I had to choose one more… pic.twitter.com/bgcG5sm5uu
— Championship Rounds (@ChampRDS) August 27, 2024
Izzy as of now is on a skid, losing three out of his last four outings with the recent one being a devastating title fight loss to champion, Dricus du Plessis.
Despite reclaiming the MW belt from his longtime rival, Alex Pereira, Adesanya failed to retain his belt against Sean Strickland and eventually failed to snatch the belt from du Plessis at UFC 305.
On the other hand, ‘The Natural’ Borralho is on a tear, decimating the competition one after the other with an unblemished 9-0 record in the promotion. To the Brazilian’s credit, instead of being hasty, he is taking life one bout at a time, remaining stead focused and patient in his title chase.
That said, he hasn’t been entirely happy about his last fight.
Borralho has expressed his displeasure over Dan Miragliotta’s late stoppage, that let Jared take unnecessary punishment.
‘Miragliotta should have stopped the fight’
Before the action went to The Sphere for the promotion’s massive PPV event in Vegas, the octagon made a stop at its Apex Facility in Enterprise, Vegas last week, featuring a middleweight barnburner of a main event between Borralho and Cannonier.
Both fighters started the bout exchanging leg kicks. While the Brazilian had the upper hand in the significant strikes, stopping the former title contender in his tracks with crisp jabs, the fight was evenly matched to an extent with ‘Killa Gorilla’ landing a few shots of his own.
However, everything changed in the fifth round after ‘The Natural’ cracked the American with a cracking 1-2 that put Cannonier on thin ice.
Seeing his opponent on wobbly legs, Borralho pounced on him, delivering several unanswered ground shots, waiting for the referee to intervene while Cannonier tried his level best to cover up and save himself from the barrage.
Surprisingly, Miragliotta did not jump in and instead let the pounding continue until the bell rang. Reflecting on this, Caio expressed his displeasure, saying that the fight should’ve been stopped then and there.
“I almost got the finish, I think the referee should have stopped the fight because Jared (Cannonier) was very (badly hurt). It is what it is, I’m very thankful to be there for 25 minutes with one of the best in the world.”
What is your take on this, was Dan’s decision justified or did he let Cannonier take more damage than he should have?
