SÃO PAULO — Caio Borralho wants to earn a shot at the UFC middleweight belt by beating Nassourdine Imavov inside the octagon.

The Fighting Nerd talent sat down with MMA Fighting in São Paulo for a chess match and said he’s waiting on Imavov to agree to facing him next. Borralho, a “nerd” with nearly 1,500 chess matches played online since the COVID-19 pandemic, has won seven in a row since joining the UFC, most recently scoring a main event victory over Jared Cannonier.

“Imavov [is next]. If he agrees, right?” Borralho said. “But he doesn’t have much of a choice. I think it’s the fight that makes the most sense, it’s the fight we need. Whoever wins goes for the belt. It makes sense for the division.”

“It’s the fight that makes the most sense,” he added. “I don’t think he has much choice. The UFC won’t give him much choice. If he doesn’t want to fight, cool, you’re after Caio on the line, and I’ll wait for the end of the year for the belt. But I think he’ll take it. He’s in a good moment, he’s confident, he thinks he can beat me, and I think this is going to be good.”

Imavov finished Cannonier in June 2024 before topping Brendan Allen and Israel Adesanya to go 4-0 with one no-contest since his most recent defeat, and Borralho said he expects to finish the France-based Dagestani fighter in the second round.

“I think it’s a two-round type of fight,” Borralho said. “I’ll ask for it to be five [rounds] because that’s what makes sense. Two guys who will go for the belt, so it makes sense for us to fight five rounds before that, right? … I think this is the fight that will take me to the belt. It will give me more confidence. Like, I beat the No. 1, I beat a good, young guy, who’s coming off many wins, and in a good moment. I think that’s the type of opponent I need right now. That’s what I like the most about this. And also because he’s the No. 1 contender. Beating him takes me to my dream, the belt.”

The UFC is yet to announce who’s next for Du Plessis’ 185-pound belt, but Borralho expects no surprises there.

“I think we’ll have the Dricus-[Khamzat] Chimaev fight now, but this one is a chess match,” Borralho said. “I’ve always bet against Dricus and was always wrong. I don’t know if I want to bet against Dricus, but of course I see Chimaev winning. That grappling game, if Dricus doesn’t prepare exclusively for that, I think he can lose the fight in the first or midway through the second. But if he handles the pressure after the first, halfway through the second, I think he starts to have an advantage.

“I think they’re both difficult. Their styles are completely unique. Each one has their own quality in one aspect of the fight. Chimaev is incredible in wrestling, that game, that system. And Dricus is the champion and has beaten so many good people, he’s very confident. And he has the belt, so that adds more weight to the fight. I want to fight whoever wins that one. And may they win in dominant fashion so there’s no need for a rematch and I’m next.”