Caio Borralho didn’t get his want of combating former UFC middleweight champion Israel Adesanya.
Streaking contender Borralho (17-1 MMA, 7-0 UFC) informed MMA Junkie this previous October that was in discussions to face Adesanya (24-4 MMA, 13-4 UFC) subsequent. Nonetheless, Adesanya wound up getting booked in opposition to Nassourdine Imavov (15-4 MMA, 7-2 UFC) Feb. 1 within the UFC Struggle Night time 250 headliner at ANB Area in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
A upset Borralho defined what he thinks occurred.
“I believe the UFC provided Izzy two fights: me or Imavov,” Borralho stated on the “Overdogs Podcast.” “After which, he all of the sudden posted a clip finding out Imavov’s tape, and I used to be like, ‘Come on, bro.’ I despatched a message to Izzy, and was like, ‘Bro, why you selecting that?’
“He was like, ‘Bro, we’re going to combat subsequent yr. We’re going to bop subsequent yr for the belt.’ It’s OK, I respect you in the event you select that. I believe he selected proper. I believe Imavov is a greater combat for him, and I believe Izzy is the favourite on this combat.”
Borralho thinks Adesanya’s fundamental benefit is available in his expertise of combating championship rounds on quite a few events. Imavov has been booked in three five-round UFC fundamental occasions – a unanimous choice loss to Sean Strickland, a majority choice win over Roman Dolidze, and a fourth-round TKO end of Jared Cannonier.
“Imavov, I believe he’s good and all that, however I don’t assume he has the cardio for 5 rounds,” Borralho stated. “I don’t assume he has the very best mentality for 5 rounds. He will get pissed off rather a lot into the combat, and he fought a three-round combat with Brendan Allen in Paris and it was like a boring combat.
“They had been drained for the reason that first spherical, and I believe if he does the identical factor with Izzy, Izzy goes to choose him aside. I believe he’s good at combating guys which are shorter than him. I don’t assume he’s good when he’s combating guys who’re taller than him.”
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