Caio Borralho, a promising middleweight prospect, is set to face Michal Oleksiejczuk in the co-main event at UFC Fight Night 223 this weekend.
Borralho, who has won all three of his fights since joining the UFC, is looking to solidify his position in the competitive middleweight division. Oleksiejczuk, on the other hand, is coming off two impressive knockout victories against tough opponents.
With both fighters riding win streaks, their upcoming bout is expected to be a closely contested matchup that could have significant implications for the middleweight rankings.
Betting Odds
After his dominant performances since coming into the UFC, Caio Borralho enters this bout as a sizable favorite.
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Fight Breakdown
The main appeal to this fight is just how well-rounded and dangerous both fighters are. Both are fairly technical on their feet and extremely proficient on the ground, which has helped both of them garner a number of solid performances. Borralho is a full-fledged product of the Brazilian chute boxe style, using his confidence off of his back to put in dangerous work on the feet. This has dissuaded many of his opponents from shooting in on traditional takedowns, which has led to them getting pieced up by his striking.
Borralho also has a fairly underrated arsenal of attacks from the feet. Along with his proficiency as a boxer, he has a wildly powerful body kick that has changed the course of his fights since his wins in the contender series. He seldom uses leg kicks, but when he does they have an equal amount of power as he usually puts most of his weight into them. He leaves his guard low when he does this, however, so a solid counter from Oleksiejczuk could deter him from throwing more kicks or outright end the fight.
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Oleksiejczuk is a more traditional fighter, using his combinations to set up his takedowns or clinch exchanges against the fence. He has a powerful left hand that he often uses to break the guard of his opponents to start putting together combinations. He’s not as strong off of his back as Borralho but has shown himself to scramble out of precarious positions when push comes to shove. Against strong grapplers, however, he’s been shut down entirely, often losing decisions or getting submitted due to his inability to recover from long grappling exchanges.
Oleksiejczuk’s main deficit is his lack of defense. He swings pretty wildly which has often led to him getting countered and seriously hurt, which has altered the course of many of his fights. He takes a decent amount of time to recover as well, which has put him on the back foot in many of his bouts. Borralho isn’t sharp from a technical standpoint, but he could surely capitalize on this if Oleksiejczuk doesn’t give him a diverse arsenal of reads in his combinations.
Prediction and Betting Guide
I’m going with Borralho on this one. He’s got a lot of momentum as a recent signing and has shown himself to be more than worthy of the hype he’s garnering. I don’t really see a way for Oleksiejczuk to win this outside of a decision or if he lands flush on Borralho in the early rounds. His defense is far too underdeveloped both on the ground and on the feet, and a dangerous young fighter like Borralho seems to be a poor matchup for him in every department.
The real question is how does Borralho get it done? Oleksiejczuk is yet to get knocked out in his career so, even as powerful of a striker as Borralho is, I don’t really see him putting him away with a knockout outside of a ground-and-pound TKO.
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Borralho is due for his first submission in the UFC though, and Oleksiejczuk has shown himself to be vulnerable to submissions against weaker opponents so Borralho via submission at +165 seems to be a promising betting line.
If you want to play it safe though, Borralho via decision has even higher odds at +250 and is a solid pick as well.
Bet: Borralho by Submission (+175) or Borralho by decision (+250)