Caio Borralho flattens Paul Craig with vicious left hand at UFC 301
The Ultimate Fighting Championship returns to us tonight, May 4, 2024 for UFC 301, going down live from the Farmasi Arena in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
Headlining the event is a flyweight title bout between Alexandre Pantoja (27-5) and no. 10 ranked Steve Erceg (12-1).
Co-headlining the event is the return of former multi-time WEC and UFC featherweight champion Jose Aldo (31-8), who comes back to the octagon tonight following a 2-0-1 stint in professional boxing to face no. 12 ranked Jonathan Martinez (19-4).
Opening up the main card tonight was a middleweight showcase between a pair of grappling studs in no. 13 ranked Paul Craig (17-8-1) and no. 14 ranked Caio Borralho (16-1).
Former BAMMA light-heavyweight champion Paul Craig came into the bout having gone 1-1 since dropping down to 185 lbs; he’s the only man to ever defeat no. 2 ranked light-heavyweight contender Magomed Ankalaev, and up until UFC 300, he was also the only man to ever defeat former UFC light-heavyweight champion Jamahal Hill.
Former FFC middleweight champion Caio Borralho on the other hand had gone a perfect 5-0 inside the octagon to date.
Continue reading to see how this middleweight encounter went down:
Official Result: Caio Borralho def. Paul Craig via KO (punch) at 2:10 of round one
Borralho did a good job with his boxing throughout the opening round, landing a lot of punches to a stationary Craig. that wasn’t doing so well at moving his head
Craig caught a kick and attempted to take Borralho down along the fence, nearly securing it but couldn’t quite get it. He also landed some good body kicks in round one, but failed every takedown attempt and attempted to pull guard on many occasions, Borralho of which surprisingly refused to join him on the mat each time.
Borralho landed a nasty left hand followed by a flying knee in the second, Craig attempting to take the fight to the mat after eating the knee, but was again unable to. Borralho landed that left hand again shortly after, following it up with a combination that flattened Craig midway through round two.
PAUL CRAIG GETS KNOCKED OUT COLD BY CAIO BORRALHO #UFC301 pic.twitter.com/PQ5cC13Olo
— Spinnin Backfist (@SpinninBackfist) May 5, 2024
Caio Borralho is a very skilled middleweight.
We’ve seen how good he is on the mat, and now we’ve gotten to see his striking. The Brazilian contender is now 6-0 in the UFC with wins over Gadzhi Omargadzhiev (13-0, UD), Armen Petrosyan (6-1, UD), Makhmud Muradov (25-7, UD), Michal Oleksiejczuk (18-5, rear naked choke), Abus Magomedov (25-5-1, UD), and now Paul Craig (17-7-1, KO).
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