As the #6-ranked contender in the middleweight division, there aren’t many fights that make sense for the surging Caio Borralho right now. The Brazilian called out a former champion following his win over Jared Cannonier but doesn’t look to have gotten anywhere with it just yet.
With UFC 312 being announced for Sydney, Australia in February, his proposed fight against Israel Adesanya would make a lot of sense. It now looks like Alexander Volkanovski won’t be on the card so getting some big names from this region in meaningful fights is sure to be high on the UFC’s list of priorities.
In a recent interview with Submission Radio, Borralho said that fighting Robert Whittaker on this card could be an option if the former champion has healed in time from his injuries that he suffered this past weekend at UFC 308.
“I definitely think it’s a great fight, I’m a big fan of Rob, a big fan of what he has done in this sport. I think he’s a great guy, a nice guy, but definitely it’s a fight that I want if Adesanya doesn’t want to face me in the next fight, I think Robert Whittaker is the one that I want.”
In the mean time, Borralho is happy to wait for the right fight and revealed that he’s already put his name into the mix to be the backup fighter for the next middleweight title fight. He believes that Sean Strickland will be next to challenge the champion, Dricus Du Plessis.
That leaves Khamzat Chimaev who he’s trained with in the past so isn’t actively pursuing a fight with unless it means securing UFC gold. As a result, Borralho is open to the idea of staying ready in case the UFC needs someone to step in.
“In fact, I told that to the UFC, I told that to Hunter, to Mick Maynard, that I can be the backup fighter. If they want me to be, I can be the backup fighter. I’m going to make weight and gonna wait. If something happens, I’ll be ready, I’ll be more than ready.”
