Caio Borralho believes he has what it takes to defeat the boogeyman of the UFC middleweight division, Khamzat Chimaev.
Chimaev (14-0 MMA, 8-0 UFC) had been rumored to be next in line to challenge middleweight champion Dricus Du Plessis (23-2 MMA, 9-0 UFC) for the title during International Fight Week later this year.
With Du Plessis reportedly injured and unable to compete, Borralho (17-1 MMA, 7-0 UFC) stepped up this week and offered to face Chimaev, sparking an entertaining back-and-forth between the two online.
Chimaev has recorded five first-round finishes in his UFC career so far, most recently submitting former middleweight champion Robert Whittaker at UFC 308 in October.
Borralho believes that if the two were to meet inside the Octagon, he has what it takes to weather a challenging opening round before taking control of the fight.
"I think the critical point is the first round," Borralho said this week during an interview with Submission Radio. "I think that's the round that I need to not make a mistake at all. The first round is the dangerous one, and it's the critical point. After this round, I'm not saying that he is going to go down in his performance or anything like that, but that's when I'm going up in my performance.
"I think I can still, in the second round, defend some takedowns – even get taken down and get back up and all that – don't give my back or anything like that that he likes, and then after that start hitting him with some body shots, with some jabs that I'm doing very good with, some calf kicks and all that. And then after that, the fight is getting better and better for me. Maybe a knockout in the fourth round or fifth, or maybe a good decision and domination in the last three rounds."
Chimaev posted images on social media this week showing him training with Borralho two years ago. One photo showed Chimaev submitting the Brazilian, but Borralho clarified that he was there as a somewhat passive drilling partner for "Borz," not to go head-to-head with him in live sparring.
"That was far from a sparring session," Borralho said. "That was a video of him drilling positions that Allan Finfou was coming to him. Actually, that video is from 'Embedded' so we were filming for the UFC. We were doing drilling – he was taking the back, doing a rear-naked choke. Look at that: I didn't even defend the takedown. It was a drilling session."
