Caio Borralho added another signature win to his growing resume at UFC 326, turning back former two-division ONE champion Reinier de Ridder by decision on Saturday night.
“I think I showed everyone how improved my striking was with hands down, movements and all that. I think it was an entertaining fight for the fans,” Borralho told reporters including Cageside Press at his post-fight scrum.
“I showed a little bit of my grappling too. I (am) one of the best grapplers in the world because I dominated the guy on the grappling. I passed the guard, I mounted twice, almost took his back. Did you see anyone do that with Reinier? I did.”
Borralho (18-2) urned his attention to what could come next in the middleweight division. Confident in both his style and momentum, he made it clear he welcomes a high-profile test against former middleweight king Dricus du Plessis.
“It’s going to be an amazing fight for the fans. I can entertain people. My hands down, moving everywhere, and throwing punches trying to knock this guy out,” he said.
“I think me and Dricus could do a great fight. I respect him a lot as a champion. I think he was a very dominant champion. Awkward guy to fight too, but a little bit shorter than Reinier. So I think my punches going to connect a little bit more. I just want to go there and test myself against this guy.”
Borralho also shared a deeply personal moment from the days leading up to the fight, revealing the emotional weight carried by someone close to him during fight week. The middleweight used the opportunity to dedicate the victory to a loss within his inner circle that unfolded just hours before he stepped into the octagon.
“One of my best friends, my brother, my real brother. Like soulmate. His mother passed away on Saturday. He knew early in the morning. He didn’t (tell) anyone, he went to train with me, we beat the sh*t out of us in training. He was there for me,” he said.
“He passed the whole day without telling me because I needed to do some media stuff so he didn’t want to put my energy down. End of the day I heard that his mother passed away. He was already there crying when I got home. I just hugged him and said that this win was going to be to her, to Daisy. He’s my big brother.”
Watch the entire post-fight scrum with Caio Borralho above.
