Caio Borralho only has his sight sets on moving up the division, following his UFC 301 win against Paul Craig.
In what was a career best performance, the Brazilian looked levels above the Scotsman in the striking department, knocking Paul out in the second round.
Discussing the devastating finish with the media post fight, Borralho revealed that the knock was something he believed he would be able to achieve, from the first day of his camp and even though he was comfortable in his grappling game, the 31-year-old felt the best route to victory was through his striking. He said:
“I was calling it since the first day of my training camp. You know, the mantra of my training camp was that I was going to kill Paul Craig, and I did it. I predicted just because it was the smartest way to win from here, you know, nobody wants to be in his guard or on the ground with him.
“Actually, I know I have jiu jitsu to trade some grappling with him, but the smartest way was by knocking him out. And I did it.”
The second round finish was Borralho’s second stoppage of his six fight UFC tenure. Due to recent decision wins, some fans had called into question whether or not ‘The Natural’ had the ability and the prowess to stop his opponents in their tracks or if his route to victories would solely come on the judges score cards. Although not feeling like he had anything to prove to anyone, Borralho acknowledged that it did feel good to get the victory and silence some of the doubters.
“I don't even need to say anything, you know, my actions say everything for me. I did what I said I was going to do. I know that I can finish fights and people start realizing that too, sooner or later people are going to start to realize that.
“You know, I don't I don't need to prove anything to anybody. I just need to prove to myself I proved today I proved what I knew already. So that's what happened.” He continued.
In his post fight octagon interview, the Fighting Nerds Middledweight called out Jared Cannonier, not realising he was already slated to face Nassourdine Imavov at an upcoming Fight Night. When asked if there were any other names he would take on, he said he would be happy to face anyone the UFC will put in front of him but that some time off is certainly required so that his body can heal properly, having fought seven times since 2022.
“I'm a company man. Whoever the UFC puts in front of me, I'm going to fight. But actually, I need some time to rest, you know, for the past two years, I did six fights and the past three years I did around eight fights around there. So I just need time to relax, to spend some time with my son. I need to heal my ankle because my ankle is really, really bad. You saw that I that I enter with ankle tape. They didn't let me.
“It was crazy. But like, I just need to rehab that for a few weeks and then and get back to work and keep doing my thing, you know?”
You can watch his full post fight interview, in which he called to face Cannonier, below:
