LAS VEGAS – Caio Borrallo knows he has the ability to be a “big superstar” in the UFC and he wants to have discussions with Dana White to make it happen.
“I just want to meet Dana. I feel like I deserve to meet Dana,” Borrallo told reporters, including MMA Junkie. “You see those guys going in his room all the time and meeting with him and Hunter (Campbell), you know? I want to be one of those guys.”
Borrallo (17-1 MMA, 7-0 UFC) could be one of the fighters to claim the biggest win of his career at UFC on ESPN 62 by defeating former title challenger Jared Cannonier in the first-ever main event at the UFC Apex on Saturday night.
“I’m just happy to have had 25 minutes with one of the best players in the world,” Borrallo said. “Nobody else has done that to Jared. Nobody else has done that to Jared the way I did. I stayed persevering after the shots and I’m really proud of my performance.”
It’s only natural.
Borralho, the face of the emerging Fighting Nerds team in Sao Paulo, Brazil, said studying Cannonier has paid off in a big way.
“I anticipated everything. Me and my team anticipated everything he’s done so far,” Borrallo said. “That’s why we’re fighting nerds. We calculate, we study, and when the test comes, we get an A+.”
Borrallo’s toughness and fighting ability were on full display throughout the 25 minutes – he nearly finished Cannonier in the fifth round with a brutal straight left – but even without that, he believes he would have made the case for what he wanted.
“I think this puts me in the running to be one of the best fighters in the world,” Borrallo said. “I’m in the top five now. I deserve to be in the top five at least on Tuesday. I think I’ve proven that I’m one of the best fighters in this weight class. I can do the grappling as well as the striking.”
He continued, “The watchword for this training camp was to show the arrival of a new champion, and I think I showed a little bit of that. If I’m not the next champion, at least when the conversation turns to who the next champion is, my name will be up there. I know that.”
For more on the card, check out MMA Junkie’s UFC on ESPN 62 event hub.
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