Daniel Cunningham
Tomorrow night in the co-main event of UFC 326, we are going to see a pivotal matchup in the middleweight division. Top ten contenders will battle it out as Caio Borralho (17-2) takes on Reinier De Ridder (21-3).
Both of these men were knocking on the door of a middleweight title fight last year. RDR had won his first four fights inside the octagon including a win over Robert Whittaker which led him to a headliner against Brendan Allen last October.
Had De Ridder won, he would’ve likely earned a title shot. However, he was dominated and didn’t answer the bell in the final round leading to a TKO loss. It was truly an awful performance from RDR after a sensational run to start his UFC career.
After earning a contract on The Contender Series, Caio Borralho won his first seven fights inside the octagon which led him to a main event last September against Nassourdine Imavov. Borralho just looked flat in the matchup and lost a lopsided decision at UFC Paris.
UFC 326 Prediction
Both of these men need a bounce back win in order to get themselves right back in the mix at 185 pounds. Both men are coming off bad performances, but the RDR performance is much more damaging in my eyes. He completely gassed in his fight and his corner stopped the fight before the final round.
I’m not sure what to expect from him tomorrow night because that was such a drastic downturn from what we saw through his first four UFC fights. RDR thrives when he’s able to use his grappling, but I don’t think that he’ll be easily able to get Borralho down and even if he does, Borralho has tremendous grappling himself.
On the feet, Borralho is going to strike with much more volume and I think his striking is cleaner overall. I think we are going to see a lot of striking and clinch work in this matchup at UFC 326. While I do like the knees of RDR, I think this fight is mainly fought from range where Borralho will land more which will ultimately lead to his decision win.
Prediction: Caio Borralho by Decision
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