To earn the biggest win of his UFC career, the nerd had to dig deep.
For 25 minutes, [autotag]Caio Borralho[/autotag] And [autotag]Jared Gunner[/autotag] fought in a non-stop battle in the UFC on ESPN 62 main event. And in the end, it was The Fight Nerds’ Borralho who went the extra mile, taking a unanimous decision victory by scores of 49-45, 49-45, and 48-46.
The win over No. 5 Cannonier should vault Borralho, No. 12, to the top of the official UFC middleweight rankings – and he made it clear that better be the case.
“On Tuesday, my name has to be in the top five,” Borralo, who is undefeated in the UFC, said in his post-fight interview with Michael Bisping.
Borralho (17-1 MMA, 7-0 UFC) started strong with a calculated first round, choosing his shots wisely, but Cannonier (17-8 MMA, 10-8 UFC) looked to flash his mettle in round 2, even appearing to stagger Borralho at one point. But in round 3, Borralho clearly staggered Cannonier with a hard straight left in the closing minute to end an otherwise close round. The action continued at a rapid pace in round 4, with Cannonier popping Borralho’s right eye with a hard combination.
There was no reason for either man to feel comfortable heading into the fifth round, and it showed in their approaches, with Borralho and Cannonier still slipping and ducking and throwing counters at each other. Borralho, however, erased any doubt when he landed a right hook, followed by a hard left that dropped Cannonier to the canvas with under two minutes remaining. Borralho maintained control by working into an arm-triangle choke for the remainder of the round, which sealed the deal.
With the hard-fought victory under his belt, Borralho, wearing his trademark thick black glasses with tape down the middle, felt emboldened to announce a takeover.
“I’m the new face (of the middleweight division), even with some scratches,” Borralho said. “Anyone who sees these glasses should be scared, because we are The Fighting Nerds. We’re coming to take over!”
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Below are the complete results from UFC on ESPN 62:
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Caio Borralho def. Jared Cannonier via unanimous decision (49-45, 49-45, 48-46)
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Tabatha Ricci def. Angela Hill via unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 29-28)
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Ryan Loder def. Robert Valentin via TKO (ground-and-pound) – Round 2, 1:49
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Mairon Santos def. Kaan Ofli via knockout (punches) – Round 2, 1:30
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Michael Morales def. Neil Magny via TKO (ground-and-pound) – Round 1, 4:39
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Gerald Meerschaert defeats Edmen Shahbazyan via submission (arm-triangle choke) – Round 2, 4:12
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Francis Marshall defeats Dennis Buzukja via split decision (28-29, 30-27, 29-28)
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Zach Reese def. Jose Medina via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-27)
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Viacheslav Borschtsjov def. James Llontop via split decision (28-29, 29-28, 30-27)
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Jacqueline Cavalcanti def. Josiane Nunes via split decision (30-27, 29-28, 27-30)
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Wang Cong def. Victoria Leonardo via knockout (punch) – Round 1, 1:02
For more information on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC on ESPN 62.
This article originally appeared on MMA Junkie: UFC on ESPN 62 Results: Caio Borralho Digs Deep for Biggest Win of His Career Over Jared Cannonier
