Paul Craig vs Caio Borralho middleweight bout booked for UFC 301

The Ultimate Fighting Championship has booked two events past UFC 300 this spring including UFC 301 of which goes down on May 4, 2024, live from a to be determined venue in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

The first bout added to UFC 301 comes in the middleweight division between a pair of BJJ black belts in Paul Craig (17-7-1) and Caio Borralho (15-1).

Paul Craig moved down to 185 lbs in July of last year, first facing fellow elite grappler Andre Muniz in his divisional debut, walking away the victor via TKO at 4:40 of round two. He did however lose his sophomore effort in the division against no. 7 ranked Brendan Allen, who mauled and submitted him early on in the third round.

Prior to that Craig broke the record for most triangle choke submission wins in UFC light-heavyweight history with four, as well as the second-most overall submission wins in light-heavyweight history with six.

In fact, Craig is the only man to ever defeat no. 3 ranked former light-heavyweight title challenger Magomed Ankalaev (19-1-1, triangle choke), and he’s also the only man to ever defeat former UFC light-heavyweight champion Jamahal Hill (12-1, triangle choke).

Craig also boasts wins over the likes of Kennedy Nzechukwu (triangle choke), former ACB light-heavyweight champion Gadzhimurad Antigulov (triangle choke), former PRIDE and UFC light-heavyweight champion Mauricio ‘Shogun’ Rua (TKO), and no. 6 ranked light-heavyweight contender Nikita Krylov (triangle choke).

Caio Borralho on the other hand, following back-to-back victories on the Contender Series, has since gone 5-0 inside the UFC with victories over the likes of Gadzhi Omargadzhiev (UD), Armen Petrosyan (UD), Makhmud Muradov (UD), Michel Oleksiejczuk (rear naked choke), and Abus Magomedov (UD).

This will be a good test for Craig to see if he’s still got it, and also a great test to see where Borralho fits in the UFC’s middleweight division. Who comes out of this one with their hand raised?

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Brady Ordway

I became a fan of combat sports when I was 12 years old. I was scrolling through the channels and landed upon Versus, where WEC was televised. Urijah Faber fought Jens Pulver for the second time that night. That's the first fight I ever saw, and I was immediately hooked. So eventually, I began covering the sport in the fourth quarter of 2018, and have since started writing about animals as well. If you'd like to see those pieces, be sure to check out learnaboutnature.com!

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