Caio Borralho is targeting UFC 334 at Madison Square Garden after rib surgery forced him out of UFC 330, and he believes one or two more wins can carry him to a middleweight title shot.
Borralho said he needs another three or four weeks before beginning a full fight camp. His preferred destination is the UFC’s November 14 return to New York.
Caio Borralho believes he’s “one or two” big wins away from a title shot:
“We have [Joe] Pyfer, we have Brendan Allen. Both of them I can fight. They can fight between two of them, or I can fight both of them.”
— MMA Fighting (@MMAFighting) August 31, 2026
“I think a good day for me to start a camp, it will be like in three, four weeks. And then I want to fight in MSG, Madison Square Garden, so this is the perfect date for me, I think.”
Borralho Will Accept Any Top-10 Opponent
A planned fight with Joe Pyfer fell apart when Borralho needed surgery. He remains open to revisiting that matchup, but he is not limiting his return to one name.
“I need to do my work, you know. Anyone from the top 10, I would accept the fight. So I’m just waiting for the UFC to give me a name, and then we’re going to accept right away. Doesn’t matter who. It needs to make sense for me, for the company, and then for the division. I had like seven straight wins, and then I lost. Now I have a good win against de Ridder, that did very good last weekend. And I think one or two more, and I’m on the way to the belt. I’m just waiting for the name next.”
Borralho rebounded from his loss to Nassourdine Imavov by earning a unanimous decision over Reinier de Ridder at UFC 326. Pyfer, meanwhile, climbed into the division’s top tier after his rise to No. 6 in the rankings.
Imavov Gets Borralho’s Support For The Next Shot
Borralho backed Imavov as the next challenger for Sean Strickland, then placed Pyfer and Brendan Allen among the fights that could move his own case forward.
“I think Imavov deserves the title next. He already has a history with Strickland, that he lost in a light heavyweight fight, in a short-notice fight for Strickland. And I think he did everything that he needed to deserve the title shot, so I think he needs to be the one next. But we have Pyfer, we have Brendan Allen, we have all these guys. Both of them I can fight. They can fight between the two of them, or I can fight both of them. I think we’re in the top of the division, so anyone that wins the next fight maybe is the one next for the title shot.”
Khamzat Chimaev recently named Borralho among four possible return opponents, and Borralho answered with an offer to fight in New York or Las Vegas. In this interview, however, he questioned whether Chimaev would be ready for a quick turnaround.
“I don’t know about Khamzat. I don’t know how healthy he is, how he’s willing to go back in, like, in a short period of time, comparing to the other time that he went back to fight. So, yeah, I don’t know.”
Borralho’s immediate plan is more concrete than the title-shot math: finish his recovery, begin camp within a month, and secure a ranked opponent for UFC 334. The belt becomes realistic only if the return produces the kind of win that separates him from the rest of the crowded middleweight group.
