Caio Borralho targets UFC 334 return after recovering from rib surgery

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SÃO PAULO — Caio Borralho is cleared to resume training after a rib injury forced him to go under the knife and cancel a planned fight with Joe Pyfer at UFC 330, and he’s now aiming to be part of the upcoming UFC 334 card in New York on Nov. 14 to re-enter the discussion for a shot at the middleweight belt. “I think I’m around 90 to 95 percent, but I’m full training right now,” Borralho told MMA Fighting. “I’m doing everything, doing grappling, wrestling, striking and everything. I think a day for me to start a camp will be like in three, four weeks, and I want to fight in MSG, so this is the perfect date for me.” Borralho said it was “a little bit frustrating” to have to cancel the Pyfer fight due to an injury, a first since he’s joined the UFC in 2021, but it gave him a chance to work on “some improvements” to his game and “take care of my body.” “I think it was a great match-up against Joe Pyfer, he was one of the top guys in the world,” Borralho said. “I think it will be a great fight with him. I think we’re going to do this fight sooner or later, but I needed to pull out and do surgery and all this stuff. But I feel ready already. I feel that I’m getting the best shape of my life right now.” Borralho said he’s open to facing Pyfer next, a man who stopped former UFC champion Israel Adesanya in his recent octagon appearance to improve his winning streak to four, but isn’t locked on it. All he wants is “anyone from the top 10” to add on his recent victory over Reinier de Ridder in March, when he rebounded from a decision loss to Nassourdine Imavov. “I’m just waiting for the UFC to give him a name and then we’re going to accept right away, doesn’t matter who,” said Borralho, who is 8-1 in the UFC. “I just need to make sense for me, for the company, and for the division. I had like seven straight wins and then I lost. Now I have a good win against de Ridder, that did very good last weekend [against Roman Dolidze]. I think one or two more on the way to the belt. I’m just waiting for the name.” The title picture at middleweight is still unresolved, with Khamzat Chimaev campaigning for an immediate rematch after losing his belt to Sean Strickland. Strickland upset Chimaev in May, edging him for a split decision to hand “Borz” the first loss of his MMA career. “Actually, I was surprised with something that people are not surprised,” Borralho said. “I was surprised at how he stood up and strike with Strickland. I knew that he was going to shoot in the first round, I knew that he was going to take Strickland down, but I already trained with both guys, already trained with Strickland and he’s a hard guy to keep on the floor. And very good mentality when he’s on the bottom, to get up and not rush anything. We know that Khamzat in a few fights already got tired and all this stuff. I wasn’t surprised about how Strickland managed to get out of the back positions, but I was surprised about how Khamzat stood up and strike with him and traded punches and was a close fight.” For Borralho, Imavov would be the rightful contender, not Chimaev. “I think Imavov deserves the title next,” Borralho said. “He already has a history with Strickland, that he lost in a light heavyweight fight, in a short-notice fights for Strickland, and I think he did everything that he needed to deserve the title shot, so I think he needs to be the one next. But we have Pyfer, we have Brendan Allen. Both of them I can fight. They can fight between two of them, or I can fight both of them. I think we’re in the top of the division so anyone that wins the next fight maybe is the one next for the title shot.”