Adam Borics is entering his fight at Bellator 238 against Darrion Caldwell as confident as you can get.
Borics, who is 14-0, is coming off a TKO win over Pat Curran to advance to the quarterfinals of the Bellator Featherweight World Grand Prix. There, he was fine with fighting anyone, but he says Caldwell purposely picked the other side of the bracket to avoid him and A.J. McKee until Patricio Pitbull matched Caldwell with Borics.
“You know I was pretty sure he didn’t want to fight with me and didn’t want to be on my and A.J. McKee’s side [of the bracket],” Borics said to MMA News. “So nobody wanted to fight us.”
Entering this fight, many believe Caldwell’s path to victory is to take the fight to the mat and use his wrestling. Yet, Borics is confident in his takedown defense and submission game that even if he gets taken down he will pose a threat to Caldwell.
“The knee is always there. If you remember when Pico took me down he couldn’t do any damage. Nothing. He couldn’t throw ground-and-pound, he didn’t throw because he couldn’t,” he explained. “Not because he didn’t want to, but he couldn’t because I was scrambling. I was so calm. Caldwell is a really good wrestler but if he takes me down I will get up. I have a ground game, too, I have a lot of submission wins. My first fight in the States I won by submission.”
Borics also trains with the likes of Chas Skelly and Logan Storley which helps his wrestling and submission game. He believes that will be crucial in this fight.
Not only will that be important, but he thinks his cardio will be a factor as he says Caldwell gets tired in most of his fights. Borics also believes the former bantamweight champion isn’t as motivated to win this fight as he is, as evident by Caldwell partying on New Year’s Eve instead of training.
“He was tired and he was running. That fight wasn’t too much action. Caldwell got a takedown and just was on top. I saw the fight against Horiguchi and that fight was five rounds and he lost a decision because he didn’t do anything but takedown and hanging on top of them. He has to train harder, maybe it is mental,” he said. “I don’t care, I saw on Instagram he was out on New Year’s, I was in bed before midnight. It’s a different mindset.”
Adam Borics says he knows he will get his hand raised and earn the biggest win to date at Bellator 238 on Saturday (Jan. 25). How he will do it is simple. He promises to break Caldwell mentally and physically en route to a stoppage win.
“I’m going to break him mentally and physically. In the first round, it is going to be hard with a lot of action,” Adam Borics said. “But, once I give him pressure and get him tired I will finish him. I really don’t need five rounds for this fight, but if it is five rounds he will be hurt really bad.”
Should Borics win this fight, it would set up a battle between the two undefeated fighters in A.J. McKee vs. himself in the semis.
“It is going to be a real final. It is one of the biggest fights in Bellator history. But, right now, I’m focused on Caldwell,” he concluded.
