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Caio Borralho scored the biggest win of his MMA career in the main event of UFC Vegas 96, coming close to a knockout over one-time title contender Jared Cannonier and then called for a shot at UFC middleweight king Dricus du Plessis.

Borralho realizes it’s highly unlikely that he’s next in line for the belt with Sean Strickland as the probable contender to rematch du Plessis in the near future, but feels that his callout served its purpose despite not guaranteeing him an opportunity.

“This is the third time I call him out,” Borralho said. “Last time I called him out he went on Twitter and said something like, ‘Win two more and we’ll talk.’ I think this is my third or fourth win since then. He has already beaten Strickland, [Israel] Adesanya and [Robert] Whittaker, and the other guys ranked ahead of me have fights booked now.

“I knew maybe I wouldn’t go straight for Dricus, but it would make more noise. And I’m sure that if Strickland gets hurt, my name will be in the conversation for a short notice after this callout. He has already beaten the others. If [Robert] Whittaker beats [Khamzat] Chimaev, [the UFC] will probably call me instead of him.”

Borralho has won seven in a row since joining the UFC, adding to his two victories on Dana White’s Contender Series, and said UFC chief business officer Hunter Campbell told him after UFC Vegas 96 that he “probably needs one more fight” before earning a shot at gold.

“[Campbell] was super happy [with my performance],” Borralho said. “He said, ‘In the top 5 of this sport, you can’t be a guy that quits, that throws caution to the wind and fights reckless, and you showed that today. You showed quality and heart, and we’ll see what we have for you. I don’t know if it’s going to be Dricus, but I’ll find a fun fight for you, and then you’ll go for the belt.’ I’m anxious to see which fun fight is that.”

“I hope it’s Adesanya — respectfully, I’m planting that seed little by little,” he continued. “There’s also Jiri Prochazka cutting down [to middleweight], but I don’t know if it interests me as much as a fight with Adesanya, for example. For now all I want is to rest and take some time off. I fought three months ago and again now, so my body needs a quick break, but I’m anxious to see what the UFC has in mind.”

Adesanya came up short in his attempt to regain the UFC middleweight title for the third time earlier this month, losing via submission to du Plessis at UFC 305 and dropping to 1-3 in his past four appearances. “The Last Stylebender” was 11-0 as a middleweight prior to this stretch, with his only recent loss coming in a 205-pound title match against Jan Blachowicz.

“I know it’s a good fight style-wise for me,” Borralho said. “Like it or not, I have wrestling and jiu-jitsu, and we know Adesanya’s weaknesses. He was dominant champion for so long and has a huge fanbase, he’s gigantic in the sport, one of the biggest stars in the UFC, so imagine fighting this guy. And I’m truly confident that I can win. I can take him to deep waters, especially now that he’s not performing the way he used to when he was in his prime. I think this fight makes total sense, and I’d be very confident going into it.”

Borralho has extra confidence after stopping Paul Craig with punches in May and following it up with a decision nod over Cannonier, and feels he would have gotten the knockout at UFC APEX if he had just stopped hitting Cannonier at the right time.

“The knockout was meant to come, but I think [the referee] didn’t want to risk it after his last fight was stopped too early,” Borralho said, referring to Cannonier’s controversial TKO defeat to Nassourdine Imavov. “If I had raised my hands after the knockdown and walked away, I think he would have stopped it. Truth is, I woke him up. I put him to sleep and then woke him up by hitting him [laughs]. But it was an incredible performance. Everybody saw the knockout and saw that I have cardio for five rounds. Even my biggest haters on Earth saw I have cardio and knockout power for five rounds.”

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Following his win over Cory Sandhagen at the start of August, Umar Nurmagomedov would appear to be the next in line to challenge for the bantamweight title.

Sean O’Malley will be defending the belt against Merab Dvalishvili at UFC 306 while Nurmagomedov watches on to see how it plays out.

The only thing that could potentially stop the undefeated contender from getting his shot is if there is the potential to put on a massive fight between UFC champions.

O’Malley has spoken in the past about wanting to challenge himself at featherweight and though Dvalishvili presents a very serious threat, “Suga” has big plans.

The current champion has spoken about wanting to face Nurmagomedov but a super fight against the winner of the featherweight title fight at UFC 308 could be a now-or-never opportunity for O’Malley and the promotion.

Tim Welch Says Super Fight Could Be Next For Sean O’Malley Under The Right Circumstances

In a recent interview with James Lynch for Bodog Canada, O’Malley’s head coach Tim Welch gave his thoughts on Nurmagomedov being the next contender.

Welch believes that taking on the cousin of the great Khabib Nurmagomedov will be their next challenge unless the main events of UFC 306 and UFC 308 end in emphatic fashion.

He thinks that the UFC could strike while the iron is hot if both O’Malley and either Ilia Topuria or Max Holloway is able to put in a statement performance before going on to face each other, leaving Nurmagomedov to wait a bit longer for his chance.

Welch referenced Dan Henderson’s iconic knockout of Michael Bisping at UFC 100 to make the case for this fight being put together if there is enough buzz.

“I think we’ll see how it goes and if Ilia, maybe if Max knocks out Ilia or Ilia knocks out Max cold and then ‘Suga’ just face plants Merab and drops a ‘Hendo’ bomb on him at the end and it’s just spectacular knock outs, I don’t think Dana and those guys would be opposed to make a super fight.”

Read also: Sean O’Malley’s Coach On Henry Cejudo: ‘Thinks He’s God’s Gift…’ 

Continue Reading Coach On Sean O’Malley Not Defending Title Against Umar Nurmagomedov: “If ‘Suga’ Just Faceplants Merab & Drops A ‘Hendo’ Bomb…” at MMA News.

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MMA: Mixed Martial Arts

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MMA: Mixed Martial Arts

KO!
| BJPenn.com

Syndicate MMA head coach John Wood knows grappling got Merab to the dance, and they’re not going to try and re-invent him for his title fight against Sean O’Malley.

Merab Dvalishvili has the biggest fight of his career when he headlines Noche UFC at the Sphere on September 14th against bantamweight champ Sean O’Malley.

Dvalishvili is still tight with his longtime team at Serra-Longo in New York, but since moving to Las Vegas he’s been training out of Syndicate MMA under head coach John Wood. And while Wood is undoubtedly working hard on Merab’s ability to hang with a striker of O’Malley’s pedigree, he’s not looking to re-invent the Georgian into something he’s not.

“I always, as a coach, look at the things that make Sean Sean and what we need to do to get around it,” Wood told Red Corner MMA. “And I never wanna overlook what got Merab to the dance, what brought Merab into this fight.”

“We have to try and keep those things in check, and not lose ourselves,” he continued. ”’Oh, we have to go learn traditional boxing. We have to do these things to compete with O’Malley.’ Because that’s how we’re gonna get knocked out.”

So what is Wood’s goal when working on the evolution of Merab Dvalishvili?

“Merab is a crazy man, we’ve just started to make him a technical crazy man,” Wood said. “Sean, there’s always holes in everybody’s game. If you’re really good at this, it opens up this. If you’re really good at countering that, it opens up this. It might take us a few more times to get where we need to get, but we’re gonna get there.”

“We’ve never seen Sean get pressured enough to where he breaks. But when you start to pressure him, there is a level of he does get tired. He does start to get a little whatever, but he’s very composed. He’s a world champion for a reason, so it’s not like you can pressure Sean and he just goes to s—. But if Merab can do Merab?”

All Dvalishvili has to do is avoid getting knocked out like his friend and training partner Aljamain Sterling.

“We’ve got a guy in here right now that’s a world champion striker who is a sniper just like O’Malley,” Wood said. “He’s built like him, doing things like him. There’s a lot of really good strikers [at Syndicate]. I’m not saying he is O’Malley, but we’ve got a lot of guys that can emulate that. I don’t think anybody out there can emulate what Merab does, the chaos that he brings.”

“Every fight since he’s been here at the gym, he’s getting better,” Wood assessed. “And he’s learning how to control and use his weapons properly. So Sean’s very good. There’s very few holes. But there’s definitely things we can capitalize on that we will capitalize on.”

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MMA: Mixed Martial Arts

BKFC fighters are simply about that life.

On Saturday, the promotion headed to Edmonton for a BKFC Prospect Series event at River Cree Resort & Casino. In a light heavyweight contest, Kayden Giroux earned a 10-second TKO victory over opponent Trevor Bozniak — but that’s not the big story.

Giroux dropped Bozniak with a right hand, but when Bozniak hit the mat, his right ankle looked like it shattered — his foot turned in a different direction. The fight was obviously stopped, but Bozniak somehow snapped it back into place, even began walking on it.

Check out the crazy ending to the fight in the video below.

Despite Bozniak becoming a self miracle healer, the fight remained over, giving the Canadian Giroux his first BKFC victory. Giroux competed in a modified rules boxing match in May, earning a third-round stoppage.

Bozniak, also a Canadian fighter, was making his BKFC debut in the contest. Luckily for him, the injury wasn’t as bad as it initially looked.

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Resilient
| BJPenn.com

It’s been a tough twelve months for Usman, who was suspended over a drug test failure and then had to withdraw from his comeback fight due to illness.

Usman Nurmagomedov is set to return to action on Saturday September 7th at Bellator Champion Series: San Diego, where he’ll defend his lightweight title against Alexander Shabliy. It’s a re-booking of a fight previously set for Champion Series: Paris in May which was canceled due to an undisclosed Nurmagomedov injury.

Now Usman is revealing the actual cause of his withdrawal: an illness which he suspects could have been COVID-19.

“The last time when we’re preparing for Paris, I was coming fresh out of the month of Ramadan,” Usman told MMA Junkie through a translator in a new interview. “We had to fast, and my body was weak. I don’t know. Maybe it was the coronavirus, but there was something with my lungs so I couldn’t recover properly.”

“I got sick. And I was trying to do my best. I was still trying to fight and get the proper preparation, but I just couldn’t beat it. So unfortunately that fight was off, but now that’s time we prepared.”

Don’t get it twisted: Usman Nurmagomedov is no Umar Nurmagomedov, who has withdrawn from several fights over the past four years. The Paris fight against Shabliy is the first time Usman pulled out of a fight, and he’s looking forward to finally competing again for the first time since November 2023.

“The training is done. The camp is done. Now it’s only weight cut, and you’re gonna see us on September 7th. It’s gonna be in a great fight.”

The delay has been so long because Nurmagomedov failed a California commission drug test following his Bellator 300 win over Brent Primus. For some reason, the substance he popped for has never been disclosed by the commission, leading to a lot of speculation and some criticism.

“We have a deal with California Commission, and I cannot tell to media or someone,” he said. “But it was medication. If it were a steroid, they have to say, ‘This was a steroid.’ And they have to give me more time for suspension. They have to give me like one year, two year, and we have example from other guys. It was medication, and this was like nothing. Everything is good now.”

Bellator was supportive enough to Nurmagomedov through the situation that they let him keep the lightweight belt despite the drug test fail.

“I know who I am, I’d never do something like steroid or something like that,” Usman declared. “People only talk about this because they cannot win against us, and they have to say something. You guys, you can talk whatever you want, but who cares?”

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