Caio Borralho was victorious in his UFC debut, but it didn’t go as planned against Gadzhi Omargadzhiev.
Taking on the undefeated Russian in the co-main event of UFC Vegas 51 this past Saturday at the UFC APEX in Las Vegas, Borralho won via technical decision after an illegal knee to the head thrown by him forced a premature end midway through round three.
Referee Dan Miragliotta took one point from Borralho but Omargadzhiev could not return to the bout. Instead of disqualifying the Brazilian, Miragliotta went to the scorecards for a technical decision. Borralho won every round in all three scorecards, making it an unanimous 29-27 after the point deduction.
“I thought he was getting back up because his right hand was already off the ground, but I couldn’t see the left hand from my angle,” Borralho said. “The referee saw I had the intention to throw the strike but I didn’t have the intention to throw an illegal strike. Both the referee [Omargadzhiev] and the doctor allowed me to proceed, but he decided not to. That’s why we went on to the .”
scorecards.
Some of UFC’s top stars took on Twitter that night to weigh in on the controversy, with Daniel Cormier, Aljamain Sterling and Justin Gaethje disagreeing with Miragliotta’s call.
So win 2 rounds, throw unintentional illegal strike and then hope they guy can’t continue. That’s it. You all go straight to the judges. Shit you don’t run the risk of losing
— Daniel Cormier (@dc_mma) April 17, 2022
I like Borralho, but how do you get a win here? It’s a bit confusing. The ref for that night basically dictates the way a foul should be interpreted. No consistency. No consistency. #UFCVegas51
— Aljamain Sterling (@funkmasterMMA) April 17, 2022
Others in the future. You are encouraging fighters to follow this path. There are far too many stakes and people will cheat. This is the reason this section of the rule book is relevant.
— Justin Gaethje (@Justin_Gaethje) April 17, 2022
” I didn’t intend to do so, and it is up to the referee who calls the play. Borralho stated that he could have disqualified or not. You know, there are enough fighters who win by acting. You saw the Russian didn’t feel the [knee], he kept looking at the referee. He put his hands on his head after he saw that it was an illegal strike, so I think that’s why the referee acted the way he did.”
Borralho is happy to “fulfil his dream” in the UFC and believes the controversy won’t downplay his performance in Las Vegas, “dominating an undefeated world champion in sambo on the ground and sending a message to the division.”
On a three-fight winning streak inside the octagon that includes two victories at Dana White‘s Contender Series in 2021, Borralho now calls for a DWCS vs. The Ultimate Fighter clash with Bryan Battle in July or August.
“Bryan Battle is a good name and he’s coming off two wins,” Borralho said of the TUF 28 middleweight winner, who beat Tresean Gore via decision after submitting Gilbert Urbina to capture the reality show trophy. “We can do the best of TUF against the best of the Contender. But I’m open to whatever the UFC brings me.”
