Back in September, Caio Borralho entered the UFC Paris main event with a perfect 8-0 record in the UFC. After five hard-fought rounds, he found himself of the wrong end of a decision for the first time since signing on the dotted line with Zuffa.
As the expression in goes in MMA, you either win and you learn. Borralho feels that the setback helped him learn about where he was personally and what he needed to change moving forward.
“I just needed to focus on my personal life. Internally, I needed to get this fire back. I wasn’t feeling the same way about MMA, about why I was doing it and all that,” Borralho said. “Right now I think I found it back- the reason is to inspire people, tell my story to people and prove to everyone that resilience and willpower and self-knowledge, that’s the key for you to be successful in your life.”
While doing that for himself and his career is important to him, he also feels that it is important for the MMA community in general.
“I can show people resilience, good stories and keep the young generation, the MMA is developing a lot and I just feel right now I have a lot to give for the for the community, for the young athletes, for the fans and to everyone,” he said. “I got this fire back”
Borralho also felt like the process helped him realize that he needed to rely on his team more than he was. The way that his popularity has risen, he felt like he was being treated more like a master than a pupil.
“I was kind of disconnected from my cause and because the team got so big so fast and things were going on that I became like a big influence on the team,” Borralho explained. “I reunited with my coaches, I told them that I need masters, that I need people that will tell me what to do. It doesn’t matter who I am, if I’m a big influence on the team or not – doesn’t matter. I’m still a soldier and I need to be a soldier for them.”
And being that soldier for them means being pushed that extra bit. Each and every practice, he’s got those voices that are making him go the extra mile, and that has made all the difference.
“I feel that I can be this soldier again, that they can be my masters again – all my three coaches, my three corners, I’m so blessed to have them around me,” he said. “I told [my coach] like, if I’m fucked up, if I’m tired, if I need to do one more round, you need to be the first one to come to me and say, fuck off man, you’re not gonna rest, you’re gonna do this last round, you’re gonna do two more rounds, I don’t care what you’re feeling.”
With all of those changes made, he’s poised to get right back on track this Saturday. He’ll fight Reiner de Ridder, and believes you’ll see the old version of “The Natural” in there once again.
“I would do the same prediction when I fought Paul Craig. I spent the whole camp, all interviews saying that I was going to knock out Paul Craig and I did it in a dominant fashion,” he said. “I think it’s going to be the same thing – I’m going to KO Reiner de Ridder. I’m just going to go there, defend the takedowns, being offensive when it comes to grappling and take my time and finish.”
You can catch his fight with Reiner de Ridder as the co-main event of UFC 326 this Saturday. The fight card begins at 5pn EST on Paramount+.
