Caio Borralho has weighed in on the current UFC middleweight title picture.
Sean Strickland (30-7 MMA, 17-7 UFC) emerged as a potential title challenger after he finished Anthony Hernandez in Saturday’s UFC Fight Night 267 headliner in Houston. Although Strickland was an underdog, Borralho (17-2 MMA, 7-1 UFC) says he knew the former UFC middleweight champ was a bad stylistic matchup for Hernandez.
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“I kind of predicted the way it was,” Borralho told MMA Junkie. “I said to everyone I think it’s Sean’s fight because I think the style doesn’t match at all because ‘Fluffy’ needs a guy who throws a lot of power so these guys get tired. (Strickland) doesn’t get tired, and then he goes up. I don’t think this happens when you fight Strickland. Strickland likes to touch you with a lot of jabs, doesn’t commit that much with the punches, and he doesn’t gas out.
“One very important point is he has great takedown defense, great wrestling. He just doesn’t use it, but he has great grappling, great wrestling, great takedown defense, and I think in the middle of the fight, ‘Fluffy’ was kind of lost a little bit, then he needed to go forward a little bit harder and then Sean caught him with the knee. So, the fight went the way that I predicted. I didn’t believe Sean could really TKO ‘Fluffy,’ but I imagined he would win this fight.”
Borralho, who’s coming off a main event loss to Nassourdine Imavov (17-4 MMA, 9-2 UFC) this past September, admits Imavov should be the No. 1 contender. However, he sees Strickland giving UFC middleweight champion Khamzat Chimaev (15-0 MMA, 9-0 UFC) a sterner test.
“I think Imavov is a better striker, faster. I know that. I felt that already,” Borralho said. “I fought with one of them and trained with the other. Different styles, but I think that Imavov wouldn’t do so good with Khamzat’s wrestling.
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“That’s the way that I think Strickland could go. I don’t know if Strickland could really wrestle with Khamzat, but I think he could defend a little bit more and make Khamzat a little bit more tired, but we all know Khamzat’s wrestling is another level.”
This article originally appeared on MMA Junkie: Caio Borralho on who’s tougher for Chimaev: Strickland or Imavov?
