Caio Borralho doesn’t give Dricus Du Plessis any chance to beat Alex Pereira.
Middleweight champion Du Plessis (22-2 MMA, 8-0 UFC) was previously called out by light heavyweight champion Pereira (12-2 MMA, 9-1 UFC), but talks of a potential matchup have since simmered down. Pereira recently spent time training with Borralho and the Fighting Nerds team.
But if the two were to fight, Borralho thinks Du Plessis’ unorthodox style will cost him against the power and precision of Pereira.
“I think he can beat DDP easily,” Borralho told Submission Radio. “I think very easily he can beat DDP. I think Khamzat (Chimaev) is a different story because of the grappling, but ‘Poatan’ is definitely getting better at defending takedowns. He’s a big guy, very big guy. It would be hard for Khamzat to keep him down.
“He made a good choice moving up to the light heavyweight division. … I think he can knock DDP out really easily because DDP commits a lot of mistakes in his fights and a lot of openings,” Borralho said. “If you leave even a small opening with a guy like Alex, you’re going to get knocked out.”
Du Plessis defends his middleweight title in a rematch against Sean Strickland (29-6 MMA, 16-6 UFC) Feb. 8 in the UFC 312 main event at Qudos Bank Arena in Sydney. The main card streams on ESPN+ pay-per-view following prelims on ESPN2 and ESPN+.
Borralho plans on being in attendance, and although he’s not the official backup, is staying ready in case someone withdraws.
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