Preview: UFC Fight Night 231 'Almeida vs. Lewis'

Middleweights

Caio Borralho (14-1, 1 N/C) vs. Abusupiyan Magomedov (25-5-1)

Odds: Borralho (-265), Magomedov (+215)

Borralho just keeps chugging along. A 2021 alum of the Contender Series, he certainly seems to be a promotional favorite of the UFC - three of his four fights thus far have been co-main events on Fight Night cards - even if his approach hasn't been particularly electric; a self-styled "Fighting Nerd," Borralho has shown some decent striking but mostly settled in as a control-heavy wrestler. 2022 saw Borralho grind out three unremarkable victories, but his April win over Michal Oleksiejczuk was a nice bit of a business that seemed to show that the Brazilian was ready for a step up in competition, as he leveraged his wrestling advantage into a second-round victory via rear naked choke. Fighting back home in Brazil, Borralho doesn't get a chance to break into the rankings here, but still gets a solid opponent in Magomedov. Magomedov was a surprising pick to headline a card against Sean Strickland this past July; born in Dagestan and representing Germany, his UFC career to that point consisted entirely of a 19-second win over Dustin Stoltzfus nearly a year prior. But that came after a well-traveled career, so with Magomedov likely being a complete product, it was worth testing him against Strickland even if the fight laid bare the issues in his game: Magomedov got off to a hot start, but had little to offer by the second round and faded badly before a finish. Borralho could find himself in some legitimate trouble here, as there's often some rough moments before he can fully take over a fight and Magomedov is quite potent early, but he's proven fairly durable and difficult to outwrestle. Assuming he can survive, the Brazilian should be able to take over this fight in one-sided fashion past the first frame. The pick is Borralho via second-round submission.

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Almeida vs. Lewis
Bonfim vs. Dalby
Nascimento vs. Mayes
Borralho vs. Magomedov
Vieira vs. Petrosyan
Bonfim vs. Pichel
The Prelims