Caio Borralho was just the next man up for Nassourdine Imavov.
After stringing together a quartet of impressive victories over Roman Dolidze, Jared Cannonier, Brendan Allen, and Israel Adesanya, Imavov was ready to take on anyone else standing in the way of his first middleweight title opportunity. As it turns out, that man just so happens to be Borralho -- the Brazilian fan favorite and co-founder of the immensely popular Fighting Nerds.
Now, Imavov and Borralho will do battle on September 6 when the UFC makes its annual pit stop in Paris, France.
Following his impressive second-round knockout of 'The Last Stylebender' in February, Imavov was eager to get back to work. Speaking with
I did four fights in 11 months against all top-10 ranked opponents," Imavov said. "The next contender was Caio. So I asked the UFC to bring him in Paris.
A shot at UFC gold hangs in the balance between Nassourdine Imavov and Caio Borralho
With an 8-2 record inside the Octagon, Imavov has more than earned his spot as the No. 1 ranked contender in the middleweight division. But if he hopes to keep that top spot, he'll have to do what no man has been able to inside the Octagon -- beat Borralho.
'The Natural' goes into his eighth promotional appearance with an umblemished 7-0 UFC record, including highlight-reel finishes against Michał Oleksiejczuk and Paul Craig. Borralho's most recent outing saw him score a unanimous decision win over aforementioned contender Jared Cannonier last August.
With a win over Imavov, Borralho could steal the No. 1 spot in the rankings, setting the stage for a massive title tilt against the winner of this month's middleweight championship showdown between Dricus du Plessis and Khamzat Chimaev.