A huge Middleweight clash is set for August 24 when Jared Cannonier takes on Caio Borralho.
The number 5 and number 12 ranked 185lb contenders will headline UFC Vegas 96 at the UFC Apex, as both men look to advance their spots in the Middleweight standings.
Cannonier has struggled to find consistent from in his 9 years with the promotion, having never racked up more than 3 consecutive wins in the UFC Octagon.
Although his form has been up and down, ‘Killa Gorilla’ has wins over some huge names including the likes of Anderson Silva, Jack Hermansson, Sean Strickland and Marvin Vettori.
Having entered the UFC as a Heavyweight, Cannonier has slowly moved down through the weight divisions and now looks set to stay at Middleweight for the foreseeable future.
I’m contrast, since Borralho first pulled on the UFC gloves in 2021, the Brazilian is yet to taste defeat.
After earning his contract on the 2021 series of Dana White’s Contender Series, Borralho made his promotional debut 6 months later, when he defeated Gadzhi Omargadzhiev by way of decision. He then picked up two more decision wins, against Armen Petrosyan and Makhmud Muradov before earning his first stoppage win inside the UFC Octagon with a second round submission against Michał Oleksiejczuk.
After another decision win, ‘The Natural’ made no secret of the fact that he needed to start picking up more stoppage wins in order to advance through the rankings quicker, and he certainly devliered in his most recent contest. Barralho enters his UFC Vegas 96 main event on the back of his biggest win to date, when he knocked out Paul Craig in the second round of their bout at UFC 301.
Elsewhere on the card, more Middleweights will collide when Edmen Shahbazyan takes on Gerald Meerschaert. At just 25 years old and sitting with a perfect professional record of 16-0-0, and 4-0-0 in the UFC, Michael Morales takes on his most difficult opponent to date as he steps in against Neil Magny at 170lbs.
