Caio Borralho didn’t get a win the way he wanted but he’ll still leave UFC Vegas 51 with a victory in his octagon debut.
While the Brazilian newcomer was dominating the fight, he threw a knee late in the third round with opponent Gadzhi Omargadzhiev’s hand still on the canvas, which means he was considered a downed opponent. Omargadzhiev was thrown to the ground by Dan Miragliotta, who ran in to declare foul. Borralho took a point.
When Omargadzhiev was unable to continue, the fight was stopped but Miragliotta then called Borralho’s strike an “accidental foul,” which put the decision in the hands of the judges. All three officials scored the fight 29-27 with Borralho getting the nod by technical decision.
” I didn’t wish to lose like this,” Borralho stated. But I was dominant the whole fight. It was a fantastic job. It was not my fault, so I am sorry. I’m sorry for Gadzhi and his team. It was not my intention to win like this .”
Prior to the bizarre stoppage, Borralho was winning in lopsided fashion as he beat Omargadzhiev in every facet of the fight both on the feet and on the ground. Borralho was able to launch several high-powered strikes and also launched many flying knees.
On the ground, Borralho proved to be just as oppressive as Omargadzhiev. He nearly submitted Omargadzhiev with a Suloev stretch. After two rounds, Borralho was up big and likely cruising towards a victory.
Knowing he was losing big, Omargadzhiev attempted to go for it in the last five minutes. But Borralho was just defending at each turn with greater skill.
That’s when disaster struck as Borralho saw an opening to unleash a vicious knee strike and while Omargadzhiev’s knees were off the canvas, he still had a hand down and that counted as an illegal blow. A couple of moments later Omargadzhiev still had a headache from the shot, and was deemed ineligible to continue.
Borralho received a point deduct for his foul, but in the end the strike was considered accidental. This allowed Borralho to walk away from the UFC APEX as the Contenders Series veteran with victory. He also gets a win at the co-main.
