Brazil’s Caio Borralho earned the biggest win of his career at UFC Vegas 96 to catapult himself towards the top of the UFC’s middleweight rankings.
Borralho headed into Saturday night’s bout with former title challenger Jared Cannonier as the division’s 12th-ranked contender. But his hard-earned unanimous decision win over the top five contender looks sure to propel him up the rankings towards the division’s elite after a gritty display at the UFC APEX.
Borralho extended his perfect run under the UFC banner to 7-0 with a performance full of skill, heart and, on occasion, power as he dropped the notoriously tough Cannonier in the final round to put an exclamation point on a performance that showed that he was ready to take on the division’s best.
After five rounds of gruelling back-and-forth action that left the Brazilian nursing a bleeding right eye during the post-fight press conference, Borralho took the victory with scores of 49-45, 49-45, 48-46.
And, after his career-best showing, the star prospect from the Fighting Nerds team declared that his team were ready to make a real impact on the sport’s biggest stage.
“I’m the new face, even with some scratches!” he declared.
“Everybody that sees these glasses must be afraid, because we are ‘The Fighting Nerds’. We’re coming to take over!”
In the co-main event, Tabatha Ricci edged Angela Hill after an entertaining back-and-forth battle over three rounds in their strawweight matchup, while TUF prospects Ryan Loder and Mairon Santos both claimed second-round finishes to win the middleweight and featherweight seasons of The Ultimate Fighter, respectively.
Elsewhere on the main card, undefeated Ecuadorian welterweight Michael Morales claimed another big win with a first-round TKO of divisional stalwart Neil Magny, while middleweight Gerald Meerschaert kicked off the main card with a little piece of UFC history. His second-round arm-triangle choke finish of Edmen Shahbazyan saw him surpass Anderson Silva for the most middleweight finishes in UFC history.
UFC Vegas 96: Official results
MAIN CARD
- Caio Borralho def. Jared Cannonier via unanimous decision (49-45, 49-45, 48-46)
- Tabatha Ricci def. Angela Hill via unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 29-28)
- Ryan Loder def. Robert Valentin via TKO (ground strikes) – Round 2, 1:49
- Mairon Santos def. Kaan Ofli via knockout (punches) – Round 2, 1:30
- Michael Morales def. Neil Magny via TKO (ground strikes) – Round 1, 4:39
- Gerald Meerschaert def. Edmen Shahbazyan via submission (arm-triangle choke) – Round 2, 4:12
PRELIMINARY CARD
- Francis Marshall def. Dennis Buzukja via split decision (28-29, 30-27, 29-28)
- Zach Reese def. Jose Medina via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-27)
- Viacheslav Borshchev def. James Llontop via split decision (28-29, 29-28, 30-27)
- Jacqueline Cavalcanti def. Josiane Nunes via split decision (30-27, 29-28, 27-30)
- Wang Cong def. Victoria Leonardo via knockout (punch) – Round 1, 1:02
