Caio Borralho’s impressive unanimous decision victory over Jared Cannonier at UFC Vegas 96 looks set to propel him into the middleweight top five this week when the official UFC rankings are released. And one man who knows the upper echelon of the 185-pound division well says it’s a deserved promotion for the Brazilian.
Former undisputed middleweight champion Robert Whittaker was an interested observer from home as he saw Borralho outbattle the former title challenger en route to a decision win that should put him right in the mix at the top of the middleweight division. And “The Reaper” admitted that he was impressed with what he saw.
“I think it was a great win for him,” he told Submission Radio.
“I think he cemented his right to be in the top five, which I’m pretty sure he’ll be moving to. And yeah, I think his future is bright. You know, he’s up there with the big dogs now, and we’ll see what happens.”
Given the state of the championship picture at the top of the division, it could be that the ideal next matchup for Borralho could be a bout with former undisputed champion Israel Adesanya.
“The Last Stylebender” was submitted in the fourth round by reigning champion Dricus Du Plessis at UFC 305 as Adesanya fell to back-to-back losses for the first time in his professional mixed martial arts career.
It means the Nigerian-New Zealander has won just once in the Octagon in his last four appearances, and will need to bounce back against another contender to reposition himself for another shot at the gold, and Whittaker thinks a bout with Borralho could be the ideal matchup for both men.
“Maybe. You know, I think I think Adesanya is in a position where he needs to fight a guy like that and he needs to, you know, retain his place, per se,” he explained.
“And I’m sure Caio wants to to jump at the opportunity.”
Despite that loss to Du Plessis, Adesanya’s performance still impressed Whittaker, with the Aussie saying that the Kiwi was performing superbly before Du Plessis started to wear him down as the fight wore on.
“I thought Adesanya looked spectacular,” he said.
“I thought this was probably the best version we saw of him. He was very effective. He looked in his groove. He was landing big shots.
“But man, DDP is one of those guys that honestly, if you don’t kill him, he’s going to win the fight. You’ve got to really take the fight to him for 25 minutes. And yeah, if you give him any space, if you give him any opportunity to crawl back in, he just keeps coming.
“It’s like you need to take the fight to him for 25 minutes. You cannot give him any space. You cannot let him in. You cannot give him opportunity. You cannot relax. You cannot sit on your laurels. You need to be wired on, locked in for 25 minutes.”
Whittaker knows first hand what it’s like to share the Octagon with Du Plessis, and he’s looking to book himself another shot against the South African when he faces Khamzat Chimaev later this year at UFC 308. And if he does find himself standing across the Octagon from “Stillknocks,” Whittaker says he won’t make the mistake he made in their first meeting, where he admitted that he made the crucial error of underestimating “DDP”.
“Oh, definitely. Definitely. Yeah. I’d like to think that I never underestimate my opponents, but I probably did him, maybe. It’s hard to say. You know, the prep wasn’t ideal,” he admitted.
“And everybody says it. You look at him fight, and the guy looks like a pub fighter, right? But he just keeps smashing people. In that first fight with him, I saw the punches coming. I moved out of the way.
“I felt good in there. I was like, ‘I’ve got this.’ And then I got punched in the face, right? He just he has… it’s not a pretty style, but it’s effective, super effective. And I think the biggest thing is the mentality behind his shots, right? If you’re not at that level, if you’re not on the same plane of offering as he is, then he’s going to run away with it.”
