For UFC 326, Caio Boralho has studied the tape carefully and feels he’s making ready for a really particular model of Reinier de Ridder at T-Cell Enviornment in Las Vegas. The middleweight co-main occasion slot will pit Boralho, who has a 7-1 file within the UFC and is the chief of the Preventing Nerds staff, towards Boralho, a 21-3 former ONE Championship two-division champion who got here to the UFC with a six-fight profitable streak and a 14-time submission file. Each gamers have skilled setbacks that modified their standing inside the division, which lends additional weight to their outcomes.
Caio Boralho talks about Reinier de Ridder forward of UFC 326
Boralho’s first loss within the UFC got here towards Nasrudin Imavov in the primary occasion slot in Paris after going undefeated for greater than a decade. He used his robust efficiency towards De Ridder as a strategy to reset his title trajectory and has ambitions to battle two extra occasions earlier than the top of summer season 2026 to get again into competition.
De Ridder, then again, misplaced his final UFC bout to Brendan Allen at UFC Vancouver, the place he was stopped from motion in his nook after a pointy decline in efficiency, which many attributed to extreme fatigue and potential medical points. The outcome destroyed his standing as a near-untouchable middleweight, led critics to label him a “fraud,” and de Ridder described UFC 326 as a possibility for “100% redemption.”
Boralho mentioned within the pre-match media window, quoting an analyst who expects De Ridder to utterly change his method:
“You may all the time take away from each battle that somebody does. He can take away from the battle with Imavov. I wasn’t 100%, however he can take one thing away. I simply suppose he is mendacity to himself or one thing like that. A number of what he confirmed in his final battle and all the opposite fights. He is a fantastic fighter, an ungainly model on his toes, an excellent fighter on the bottom, and I’ve plenty of respect for him as a fighter. I count on the most effective Reinier de Ridder the world has ever seen.”
Boralho’s confidence in studying the Dutchman is rooted in his personal resume as a finisher. 9 of his 17 wins have come by stoppage, break up evenly between knockouts and submissions. His spectacular resume consists of notable wins over Paul Craig and Jared Cannonier, in addition to performances in defeating De Ridder’s anticipated sport plan. Realizing that evaluation of De Ridder’s earlier fights confirmed early takedowns and grappling efforts, Boralho anticipated a direct go from the bell to open the battle.
“He’ll shoot 100%. If he does not shoot, I feel he is loopy. He is aware of I am already a striker, among the best strikers on this division. What I did towards Cannonier, what I did towards Paul Craig. Let’s have a look at. 100% he will attempt to beat me and choke me. That is the one manner he will win on Saturday. You may see it within the final 5 video games. He is already grappled and took a shot earlier than each sport, so 100% he will take a shot once more.”
Boralho’s stance is that he does not wish to faux that these patterns all of a sudden disappeared. he is prepared. For De Ridder, the mission is straightforward. It is a clear win below management and an illustration all through the battle that the “finest Reinier de Ridder” Boralho is speaking about is, in truth, the identical model the Dutchman must get again into the title slot.
