Caio Borralho held onto his spot near the top of the middleweight division Saturday at UFC 334. He dragged Yousri Belgaroui to the mat over and over at Madison Square Garden and won a unanimous decision, 30-27 on all three cards. Then he took the microphone and made clear he’s finished chasing Dricus du Plessis.
“I always call out Dricus .. I’m not going to waste my time so one thing I want is my rematch with [Nassourdine] Imavov,” Borralho said after the win, according to MMA Fighting. He mentioned Brendan Allen as a possible opponent, but Imavov is clearly the target. Per MMA Fighting’s live blog, Borralho also floated a scenario where, if champion Sean Strickland doesn’t defend against Imavov, he and Imavov run it back for an interim title.
The fight went about how you’d draw it up if you were in Borralho’s corner. Belgaroui, the former Glory kickboxer and Alex Pereira training partner, came in 3-0 in the UFC with three knockouts, most recently a first-round finish of Djorden Santos. Borralho never gave him room to build on that. In Round 1 he took Belgaroui’s back, locked a body triangle and hunted a rear-naked choke that got stuck on the jaw before he switched to a guillotine. Belgaroui did better in Round 2 with his long strikes and knees to the body, but Borralho finished the round in side control after referee Keith Peterson swatted Belgaroui’s hand off the fence. By the third, both men were exhausted, and Borralho added one more takedown in the final minute.
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The scorecards were kinder to Borralho than ringside was. MMA Fighting had it 29-28 and gave Belgaroui the second round. Online, the MMA Guru wrote on X that a 30-27 score was crazy, and he thought Belgaroui won the third.
Borralho said he wasn’t out there trying to prove anything with a finish. “There are levels to this game my guys,” he said, and he pointed out this was his 10th UFC fight. In comments posted by UFC News on X, he called himself the best and smartest fighter in the promotion and said he never felt Belgaroui was a level above him on the feet. He also brought up his Fighting Nerds teammates: “I’m ready for the belt. Just like Jean Silva and Carlos Prates.”
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Borralho moves to 19-2 (9-1 UFC) and has won two straight since his decision loss to Imavov in September 2025. He beat Reinier de Ridder by unanimous decision at UFC 326 in between. He came in No. 5 in the MMA Fighting Global Rankings. Belgaroui, 34, falls to 11-4 (3-1 UFC), and his six-fight winning streak is over.
FanDuel had Borralho at -156 and Belgaroui at +132, which looked about right to me. On paper the 6-foot-plus kickboxer should have been the live dog. What sank him was being 34 with very little MMA mileage against a guy who wrestles for 15 minutes. I’ll take Borralho’s word that he’s smart, because asking for Imavov makes sense. He already has a loss to the man, the fight sits right next to the belt, and it’s a lot easier to get booked than another Du Plessis callout that keeps getting ignored. The bad news for anyone who has to sit through it: Borralho has now gone the distance in back-to-back wins, and a rematch with Imavov looks like another 25 minutes of grappling.
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