Caio Borralho lost his undefeated record to Nassourdine Imavov at UFC Paris in September 2025, but the Brazilian's challenges began even before he stepped into the ring. At the time, 'Nerd' had to make weight (up to 83,9 kg) twice, as he was scheduled as a replacement for the fight between Khamzat Chimaev and Dricus Du Plessis two weeks prior. In addition, the fighter faced health problems during his preparation for the bout.
During an appearance on the "Interns Channel," Caio Borralho revealed that he only managed ten days of training to face Imavov. The Brazilian explained that he spent two months dealing with pneumonia and had difficulty maintaining a consistent training routine, as he suffered from shortness of breath, a weakened immune system, and had to interrupt training for about a week after a few days of activity. Borralho also mentioned that he had suffered from asthma when he was younger, which aggravated his respiratory problems during that period.
“For the Imavov fight, I trained for 10 days, that's all I could manage. I went through two months with pneumonia, I would train well for three days and then get really messed up. I would have shortness of breath, I had asthma when I was younger, so like, I would train well for three days, on the fourth my immunity would drop and I would be out of training for a week, this happened about three or four times,” explained Caio Borralho.
Caio Borralho is on a collision course with Khamzat Chimaev in the UFC.
After losing to Nassourdine Imavov , Caio Borralho has bounced back and can now take an important step towards the middleweight title (up to 83,9 kg). The Brazilian returned to the win column by defeating Reinier de Ridder at UFC 326 in April 2026, and has reached a verbal agreement to face Khamzat Chimaev , former champion of the category.
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