Former middleweight champion Sean Strickland believes he knows why Caio Borralho lost his bout against Nassourdine Imavov.
Borralho previously weighed in as the backup fighter for the UFC 319 main event between Dricus Du Plessis and Khamzat Chimaev. While Borralho stayed on the sidelines, Imavov prepared for his upcoming fight. According to Strickland, that decision made a bigger difference than Borralho realized. The former champion argued that Borralho’s choice to cut weight twice in a short period hurt his training and led to his defeat.
“Caio is my buddy, but he’s an idiot,” Strickland wrote on Twitter. “He trained with us and was useless.
Me: What’s wrong with you?
Caio: I’m cutting, I’m an alternate.
“So you’re giving up four weeks of your camp cutting weight twice while having a fight coming up? Whoever told you to do that, please hit him.”
“I didn’t say anything because I wanted to keep his spirits up, but he really took some bad advice from someone,” Strickland added. “That fight wasn’t him. It was missing four weeks of training cutting weight twice.”
“What do you think happens when you kill your body so much in such a short period of time?” Strickland said in response to a commenter. “Exactly that.”
If anyone can speak on Borralho’s preparation, it’s Strickland, who recently trained with him. He said Borralho wasn’t in his best fight shape when he stepped into the octagon on Saturday, and that inevitably led to his loss.
