Caio Borralho: 'Emotional' Nassourdine Imavov doesn't like getting punched, I will KO him
Borralho (17-1 MMA, 7-0 UFC) takes on Imavov (16-4 MMA, 8-2 UFC) in a pivotal middleweight clash, which headlines the UFC Fight Night event on Sept. 6 from Accor Arena in Paris, France.
Borralho is convinced that Imavov only does well when he's the hammer, not the nail.
"I'm going to pressure this guy, he's going to get tired, and I'm going to knock him out," Borralho told Submission Radio. "That's what I'm going to do. He's going to be too emotional in this fight, and I'm going to knock him out with his own emotions. I'm going to be honest with you, this is a fight where I'm going to get punched in the face. He's going to get punched in the face, but everybody already saw who is comfortable in this position of getting punched in the face, and it's not him.
"He doesn't like to get punched. Even in training, I heard a lot about him. I've been training with guys who already trained with him. He gets mad when he gets touched in his face, and that's exactly what's going to happen in the fight. I'm going to touch him a lot, I'm going to pressure him, I'm going to defend his speed and then in the right time, I'm going to knock him out."
Borralho also downplayed Imavov's resume, which includes a win over common opponent Jared Cannonier, and most recently a knockout of former champion Israel Adesanya at UFC Fight Night 250 in February.
"You beat old Izzy, you had an early stoppage with Cannonier that you were losing the fight, you almost didn't beat Brendan Allen," Borralho said of Imavov. "He did an awful fight where he got tired with Brendan Allen, and I've been dominating all my opponents.
"Cannonier, Paul Craig, Abus (Magomedov), Michal (Oleksiejczuk), and all these guys. I've been dominating all of them. I think the only competitive fight that I had was against Cannonier, but I still dominated this fight. So, I'm the guy who's supposed to be going into this run for the belt because I'm undefeated in the UFC."
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