Back in April, while in Miami to support his fellow Fighting Nerd Jean Silva, Caio Borralho — the Rei dos Nerds himself — explained to me that opponents were like equations out there to be solved. I remember him looking at Khamzat Chimaev and Dricus du Plessis the way Euclid must’ve looked at his theorems.
At the time he didn’t have a fight lined up, but he knew his next one would likely be the penultimate fight before a title shot. And we’ve seen him angling toward that shot throughout the summer. Borralho was in Chicago for UFC 319, weighing in as the backup fighter just in case one of those math problems became available.
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When that didn’t happen, it was onto Paris for a fight with Nassourdine Imavov which — if his calculations are correct — could make him the inevitable middleweight contender with a big showing.
“I have all my opponents figured out, but [Imavov’s] definitely a tough challenge and a tough competition,” Borralho told Uncrowned this week. “He’s a phenomenal athlete, very good on the feet, very fast. I think his biggest attribute is his speed, so I need to be aware of that to don’t get caught off guard. That’s the kind of challenge that I really need right now to prove myself as one of the best in the world and to be the next title contender.”
If there’s a daunting aspect to facing off with Imavov, who is riding a four-fight win streak and fresh off a TKO finish of former champ Israel Adesanya, it’s that the fight is in France. That’s where Imavov has lived since moving there from his native Dagestan in his youth. The fight cards in Paris have been wild affairs when one of their own takes centerstage. The Parisian Cédric Doumbé’s fights in the PFL that took place there produced some of most passionate scenes of 2024.
You know that the Accor Arena is going to be hopping come Saturday when Imavov makes the walk. And that means Borralho, a Brazilian who even called into question Imavov’s Frenchhood, will be public enemy No. 1.
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Yet Borralho doesn’t mind the idea of fighting in a hostile environment. If you look at his résumé it’s easy to see why he can block out the noise. He hasn’t lost a fight in a decade. He’s won all nine fights he’s had under the UFC umbrella, including the two that broke him in on Dana White’s Contender Series. He’s kicked up a bespectacled movement — the Fighting Nerds — that has swept the UFC over the past couple of years, even converting one of his conquests (Michael Oleksiejczuk) into donning the glasses.
Right now, Borralho is a one-man demolition crew who is solving everyone the UFC throws at him.
“I think it’s undeniable, the only way that we will not get the title shot after a win if the fight is boring, but I don’t think this will happen,” Borralho said. “I think it’s two of the best guys in the world facing each other in a big arena, in the arena with the craziest fans in the world. There’s no way it’s going to be a boring fight.
“And to be honest, [the crowd] doesn’t make any difference for me, if it’s at home or outside. I just like to feed myself with the energy, and if the fans are bringing energy, it doesn’t matter if it’s against me or with me. I’m just going to feed myself with this energy and leave it all in room.”
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The ideal situation for Borralho would be to be on the microphone afterward, speaking to a loudly booing room. That will mean he succeeded in solving yet another opponent, and perhaps one that — by his own estimation — the UFC isn’t overly eager to give a title shot.
Borralho sees himself as the more marketable fighter to be Chimaev’s next challenge.
Brazil’s Fighting Nerds have been one of the UFC’s most success teams over the past two years.
(Mike Roach via Getty Images)
“I think so, a hundred percent,” he said. “I’m using more of my communication, my social media and all that. I started to do this because of me. I started to promote the fight. Then [Imavov] kind of had the sense that he needs to get back and respond, and then that’s when he started to work on his social media and talking and all that, you know what I mean?
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“So for sure they still know how big I can be, how big I can sell any of the fights, how good I work on my social media and my communication, all of that.”
Imavov responded to Borralho’s claim that he wasn’t really French by posting a well-made video showing his French roots. (“It’s not his idea,” Borralho laughs, “he’s not working on that, there’s a whole team working on that for him … but it was good, good for promotion.”)
Yet it’s not just that Borralho sees himself as the more desirable matchup for Chimaev, he believes he’s the livelier minefield for the new middleweight champion to have to navigate. After all, he has firsthand experience from training with Chimaev a few years back in Sweden.
Still, after watching Chimaev dominate du Plessis at UFC 319, the Chechen champ might be the most complicated puzzle to solve in middleweight ranks, given his wrestling pedigree.
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“Oh, he’s a solvable puzzle, but not easy to solve, you know what I mean?” Borralho said. “For sure, I need a lot of work to solve this kind of puzzle, a lot of time. But I think I’m ahead of all the competitors with him because I’ve been through the training camp with him helping him to prepare, and I spent five to six weeks with him in Sweden, in Las Vegas. So, I actually know what to expect coming from Khamzat.”
First things first, though. The business of Imavov, who sits in front of him like long division, a fresh problem who will have thousands of throaty partisans on his side ready to throw Borralho’s glasses into the Seine.
“I’ve prepared myself for that already,” Borralho said. “I think they’re one of the craziest fan bases and most exciting fans in the world, so I’m very happy and excited to be here.”
