Caio Borralho Calls Out Dricus Du Plessis After UFC Sao Paulo Victory

Currently unranked at middleweight, Caio Borralho has his sights set on top contender Dricus Du Plessis.

Borralho (15-1) took on Russian standout Abusupiyan Magomedov (25-6) in front of his home fans, as the UFC returned to Sao Paulo, Brazil, after four years on Saturday night. “The Natural” displayed immense composure in taking his opponent to deep waters and roping in an emphatic decision, just barely falling short of a finish. The Brazilian is also now on the second-longest win streak in the promotion's middleweight division (five), trailing only his next target, Du Plessis (six).

“Dricus Du Plessis, you cannot run from me anymore,” Borralho said during his post-fight interview in the Octagon. “I just won [against] a guy that lost to the champion. So now I want your head and after that I’m coming to [get] my belt.”

While Borralho is likely to break into the UFC middleweight rankings in the next update, the Brazilian certainly did shoot for the stars with a callout of Du Plessis. The South African standout was widely regarded as the next title contender at 185 pounds until Khamzat Chimaev complicated the picture with a decision win over former welterweight champ Kamaru Usman at UFC 294 last month.

However, this isn’t the first time Borralho has called out Du Plessis. “The Natural” was eyeing the booking even when Du Plessis was unranked back in July 2022. Borralho had called out “Stillknocks” after a grappling-heavy decision win over Armen Petrosyan in the co-main event at UFC on ESPN 39.

Borralho further explained the callout during Saturday’s post-fight press conference.

“It’s a funny story actually, he had a previous fight against Marcus “Maluko” [Perez] and the fight was almost off, and I told my manager to put me in,” Borralho said. “He tried it, but they got Du Plessis to fight, and he did what he needed to do. I don’t have anything against that guy, but I know that I can beat him, and he is in the rankings right now, and I want him.”