Paul Craig’s game is admittedly a bit of a puzzle. Ask light heavyweight contender Magomed Ankalaev – who beat Craig up for nearly 15 minutes before getting caught with a submission with just a second to go. However, Craig’s opponent for Saturday’s UFC 301, Caio Borralho, welcomes the opportunity to solve that puzzle. That’s not just because it’ll propel him closer to the top of the middleweigbht divsion, but because it was what he loves to do the most.
“I love puzzles. I was born to solve puzzles,” he said. “It’s kind of doing all of the training camp and all of the study of his tapes because I’m seeing everything that he’s doing.”
When looking at the thing he does, he admits that Criag has some skills and tactics that are impressive. He also sees a fundemental flaw in the way that a lot of opponents have approached that system.
“I’m seeing his system – how he plays dead just to catch you,” Borralho said. “There’s one thing that people didn’t do with him that you already said, they didn’t engage. They always want to be aware of him all the time.”
Borralho is adamant that he won’t afford Craig the same luxury. Instead, he plans on bringing the fight to the Scot.
“If he pulls guard on me, and I think he will after I put some punches on his face, I’m not going to be just trying to get out of here,” he shares. “I’m going to go in there, go in his guard, and make him pay and get tired – just as Brendan Allen did.”
He believes that his gameplan will lead him to a similar result as Allen, who finished Craig back in Novemeber with a rear naked choke. However, Borralho is expecting a different style of finish.
“The mantra of this training camp is to knock him out,” he said. “But if he wants to just pull guard and stay there, he thinks I’m just going say to him to stand – no. I’m going to stay there, I’m going to punch him, I’m going to hurt him.”
You can see Borralho look to make his mantra a reality on the UFC 301 main card from Rio de Janeiro. The main card takes place starting at 10pm EST this Saturday.
