Sean Strickland spent a night in May convincing judges he beat Khamzat Chimaev, and two of the three bought it. That split decision at UFC 328 made him a two-time middleweight champion. Six months later he still has nothing officially booked, and Caio Borralho is leaning on the cage door, tapping his watch.
Borralho (18-2 MMA, 8-1 UFC), the No. 5 middleweight in the UFC rankings, told MMA Junkie the promotion doesn’t need Strickland’s blessing to move the division along. “I think they can (strip Strickland) any time,” he said. Then he pulled out a precedent with a much bigger name attached. “They didn’t strip (Islam) Mackachev, but he was supposed to fight in January, but then refused. So they said, ‘F*ck it. We’re doing the interim belt.’”
I think Borralho is right. I also think Strickland knows he’s right, which is why the next few weeks of trash talk matter more than they look.
The pay complaint is fair. The exit plan is a bluff.
Strickland (31-7 MMA, 18-7 UFC) has been loud lately about what a UFC champion actually takes home. Loud enough that he’s floated vacating the title, burning through the rest of his contract at light heavyweight and walking off to box Jake Paul.
I’m the last guy who’ll sneer at a crossover payday. Strickland versus Paul would be a circus, and I would buy a ticket to the circus. As a negotiating chip, though, it’s weak. Threatening to hand back the belt only scares the promotion if the promotion needs you holding it, and the UFC has already shown it will build a placeholder title around a champion who won’t commit. That was Makhachev. Strickland is a great talker with a great story, but he’s working with less leverage than that.
The frustrating part is that a perfectly good fight already exists. A rematch with Nassourdine Imavov is rumored for early 2027, per MMA Junkie’s reporting, though nothing is signed. That’s a real title defense against a real contender. If Strickland wants a raise, the move is to sign it, win it and walk into the next negotiation as a champion who keeps beating people. Sitting on the belt while flirting with YouTube boxing is how you end up watching someone else wear the interim strap on a pay-per-view poster.
And Borralho has already sketched out what that poster looks like. “I think they can do Imamov vs. another big name for the interim, and if Strickland stays with this narrative for too long, they’ll strip him,” he said. “They won’t let him hold the division.”
That last line is the whole argument. A champion who doesn’t fight freezes everybody under him, and the UFC has zero history of letting a frozen division sit quietly.
Borralho is campaigning, and good for him
Let’s not pretend Borralho is a neutral analyst here. He’s lobbying, and he’s lobbying for himself. “In a great way, everyone wants to see me vs. Imamov again,” he said, adding that last time around he had to cut weight twice in three weeks while serving as the backup for a title fight. That’s a guy who has already done the miserable, thankless version of being next in line and wants the real version now.
He’s also honest about the math. “There are three guys: Brendan Allen, Joe Pyfer and myself,” Borralho said. “It seems the UFC don’t want Brendan. Pyfer has a fight for February. So, maybe a big moment for me with a flash knockout or submission, it could happen.”
I love a fighter who calls his shot out loud, because it means he has to cash it. If the UFC goes the interim route, Borralho is basically auditioning for the empty side of the bracket, and the audition comes against Yousri Belgaroui at UFC 334. Belgaroui has come out of the gate strong in the UFC, so this is no free layup. A grinding decision probably doesn’t jump Borralho past anybody. A finish, which is exactly what he asked for, makes him the easiest phone call in the building.
“My name is already on the table,” Borralho said. Fine. Strickland’s name is on the belt, and the belt only stays put as long as he keeps showing up to defend it.
My take: Strickland should sign the Imavov rematch before Thanksgiving and save the Jake Paul fantasy for when his contract actually runs out. If he drags it into the new year, the UFC will do what it did with Makhachev, and Borralho will be standing there with his hand up. He gets his chance to make that case louder on November 14.
