Caio Borralho digs deep to beat Jared Cannonier

To earn the most important win of his UFC profession, the nerd needed to dig deep.

For all of 25 minutes, Caio Borralho and Jared Cannonier battled in a nonstop slugfest within the UFC on ESPN 62 predominant occasion. And within the the tip, it was The Struggle Nerds’ Borralho who dug just a bit bit deeper to earn a unanimous choice win by scores of 49-45, 49-45 and 48-46.

The victory over No. 5 Cannonier ought to vault Borralho, No. 12, towards the highest of the official UFC middleweight rankings – and he made it clear that higher be the case.

“Tuesday, my identify higher be within the high 5,” Borralo, who remained undefeated within the UFC, mentioned in his post-fight interview with Michael Bisping.

Borralho (17-1 MMA, 7-0 UFC) bought off to a robust begin with a calculated first spherical as he picked his shot correctly, however Cannonier (17-8 MMA, 10-8 UFC) appeared to get his swagger getting in Spherical 2, even at one level showing to wobble Borralho. However in Spherical 3, Borralho clearly wobbled Cannonier with onerous straight left within the last minute, which separated an in any other case shut spherical. The motion continued at a excessive tempo in Spherical 4, with Cannonier busting open Borralho’s proper eye by touchdown a tough mixture.

There was no cause for both man to really feel snug heading into the fifth, and it confirmed of their approaches, with Borralho and Cannonier nonetheless slipping and dipping and throwing counters at one another. Borralho, nonetheless, erased all doubt when he landed a proper hook adopted by a stiff left that dropped Cannonier to the canvas with below 2 minutes remaining. Borralho saved management by working for an arm-triangle choke for the rest of the spherical, which sealed the deal.

With the hard-fought win in his again pocket, Borralho, sporting his signature thick black-framed glasses with tape within the center, felt emboldened to declare a takeover.

“I’m the brand new face (of the middleweight division), even with some scratches,” Borralho mentioned. “Everyone that sees these glasses have to be afraid, as a result of we’re The Preventing Nerds. We’re coming to take over!”

Beneath are full UFC on ESPN 62 outcomes:

• Caio Borralho def. Jared Cannonier by way of unanimous choice (49-45, 49-45, 48-46)
• Tabatha Ricci def. Angela Hill by way of unanimous choice (29-28, 29-28, 29-28)
• Ryan Loder def. Robert Valentin by way of TKO (ground-and-pound) – Spherical 2, 1:49
• Mairon Santos def. Kaan Ofli by way of knockout (punches) – Spherical 2, 1:30
• Michael Morales def. Neil Magny by way of TKO (ground-and-pound) – Spherical 1, 4:39
• Gerald Meerschaert def. Edmen Shahbazyan by way of submission (arm-triangle choke) – Spherical 2, 4:12
• Francis Marshall def. Dennis Buzukja by way of break up choice (28-29, 30-27, 29-28)
• Zach Reese def. Jose Medina by way of unanimous choice (30-27, 30-27, 30-27)
• Viacheslav Borshchev def. James Llontop by way of break up choice (28-29, 29-28, 30-27)
• Jacqueline Cavalcanti def. Josiane Nunes by way of break up choice (30-27, 29-28, 27-30)
• Wang Cong def. Victoria Leonardo by way of knockout (punch) – Spherical 1, 1:02

For extra on the cardboard, go to MMA Junkie’s occasion hub for UFC on ESPN 62.