Caio
Borralho is willing to take a risky matchup to stay active.

The
Ultimate Fighting Championship middleweight is set to face
Yousri
Belgaroui at UFC
334 on Nov. 14 at Madison Square Garden in New York. Borralho
is among the top-ranked contenders at 185 pounds, while Belgaroui
is unranked. The former recently detailed his reasoning for
accepting the fight.

Caio Borralho prioritizes activity against Yousri Belgaroui
after emergency surgery

Borralho had been sidelined following emergency surgery. Eager to
return to competition and avoid another lengthy hiatus from the
Octagon, the Brazilian told Sherdog that he'll accept whatever is
offered to him to avoid ring rust.

“I've been almost six months without fighting,†Borralho said. “I
had to take some time off because I had to undergo emergency
surgery on my rib. I want to stay active. I believe I'm one of the
best in the world. Whoever they put in front of me, I'm going to
have to prove that I'm one of the best in the world. If this is the
fight you guys think makes sense, I'll take it, because I'm a
fighter. This is my job.â€

He acknowledged that the bout carries more potential downside than
upside from a rankings perspective.

“If I beat him, I maintain my position in the rankings; maybe I
won't move up,†Borralho continued. “But there are all the other
things I talked about: not being inactive, beating a guy who is
coming in on a roll and who everyone thinks is going to knock me
out. This is a fight where I'm only moving forward. I'll win this
one, move on to the next, win again and then go for the belt.
That's how I see it.â€

Borralho beat Reinier
de Ridder in his last outing, which saw him bounce back from
the lone defeat of his UFC career so far, against Nassourdine
Imavov.

Justin
Gaethje's manager, Ali Abdelaziz, believes Ilia
Topuria has no say in whether an immediate rematch happens.

Topuria suffered the first loss of his professional career against
Gaethje, losing the
Ultimate Fighting Championship lightweight title at
UFC Freedom 250 in June. Topuria has since pushed for a
rematch. Abdelaziz, however, dismissed the possibility.

Ali Abdelaziz says Justin Gaethje has nothing to gain from an
immediate Ilia Topuria rematch

Talking with Submission Radio, Abdelaziz emphasized that Topuria
doesn't have the power to call for an immediate rematch. He further
claimed that Gaethje simply has the Georgian-Spaniard's number and
will beat him again should they run it back.

“He’s not fighting Justin Gaethje next,†Abdelaziz said. “He
doesn’t call the shots. Only one guy in the past did that and his
name is Conor
McGregor and he’s not Conor McGregor. Nobody is. He was a
favorite because everybody thought he was better than Justin. I
believe Justin Gaethje will beat him nine out of 10 times. You know
why? Justin has his number. I don’t think he can beat Justin
Gaethje. He thinks he can, and he should think he can. He was close
to beating Justin Gaethje, but he didn’t. At the end of the day,
this fight will never happen. I can tell you this: Justin Gaethje
has zero gain to beat Ilia Topuria again.â€

Abdelaziz then addressed Topuria's claim that Gaethje had something
unusual in his gloves during their fight.

“If this is what he wants to say that he had rocks in his gloves,
that’s a compliment to Justin Gaethje; how hard he punches,â€
Abdelaziz said. “I’m not going to be insulted by that, because the
Las Vegas Commission was there, the D.C. Commission was there,
Andy
Foster from California was there. He had three commissions
watching him about the gloves. But he said that (during) Arman’s
fight week to take away from Arman and Ruffy’s hype. This is what
Conor used to do, and he did a good job. He got himself in the
media.â€