After scrambling to secure a main event for UFC Vegas 96 later this month, the Ultimate Fighting Championship brass finally booked one, a middleweight encounter between no. 5 ranked former title challenger Jared Cannonier (17-7) and no. 12 ranked Caio Borralho (16-1).
UFC Vegas 96 is to go down on August 24, 2024, live from the UFC Apex in Las Vegas, Nevada.
Cannonier is coming into this headliner fresh off his recent headline appearance when he faced no. 4 ranked Nassourdine Imavov, a contest he was ultimately TKO’d in round four of, though the stoppage didn’t sit well with most of us. Cannonier was certainly stunned, but he never hit the canvas and appeared to have recovered well by time referee Jason Herzog stepped in to stop the fight.
Going into that fight Cannonier was 7-2 across nine fights since dropping down to the middleweight division, only losing to former UFC middleweight champions Robert Whittaker (UD) and Israel Adesanya (UD) in that time, the latter of which was a title shot.
His seven victories at 185 lbs come over former WSOF two-division champion David Branch (TKO), former UFC middleweight champion Anderson Silva (TKO), former Cage Warriors middleweight champion Jack Hermansson (TKO), TUF 17 winner Kelvin Gastelum (UD), longtime middleweight contender Derek Brunson (KO), future, now former UFC middleweight champion Sean Strickland (SD), and former VFC welterweight champion Marvin Vettori (UD).
Cannonier is also tied with former champions Vitor Belfort and Conor McGregor, or just McGregor if you consider only the modern era, as the only fighters in UFC history to secure knockout victories in three different divisions.
Borralho on the other hand, following back-to-back wins on Dana White’s Contender Series in 2021, has been perfect thus far into his promotional tenure, winning all six fights he’s had inside the octagon with victories over the likes of Gadzhi Omargadzhiev (UD), Armen Petrosyan (UD), Makhmud Muradov (UD), Michal Oleksiejczuk (rear naked choke), Abus Magomedov (UD), and Paul Craig (KO).
This is a classic striker versus grappler match up; Cannonier being one of the most powerful specimens in middleweight history, and Borralho boasting a BJJ black belt with some really stellar wrestling to go along with it.
Who wins this middleweight main event going down at UFC Vegas 96?
If you enjoyed this piece, feel free to share it on social media!
