Khamzat Chimaev escalates feud by flaunting submission over Caio Borralho of past sparring session

Khamzat Chimaev (left) responds to the call-out by Caio Borralho [Image credit: @khamzat_chimaev, @caioborralho on Instagram] — Khamzat Chimaev (left) responds to the call-out by Caio Borralho [Image courtesy: @khamzat_chimaev and @caioborralho on Instagram]

As rumors circulate about Dricus du Plessis getting injured and jeopardizing his potential bout with Khamzat Chimaev, fighters have been stepping up to face 'Borz'. One such fighter is the No.6-ranked UFC middleweight Caio Borralho.

Upon hearing the news that Chimaev may not have an opponent for a potential bout at UFC 317, Borralho tweeted:

''Khamzat said yes! The only thing that makes sense is the Interim belt! This fight is gonna be bigger than him vs Dricus! Mark my words."

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Khamzat Chimaev had the perfect clap-back, uploading a screenshot of a sparring session between him and Borralho back when they were still training in the same gym. Needless to say, it's not a good look for the Fighting Nerds leader, who is on a seven-fight win streak in the UFC:

Check out Khamzat Chimaev's Instagram story below (via @ChampRDS on X):

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When Caio Borralho broke down how to beat former teammate Khamzat Chimaev

While Khamzat Chimaev doesn't believe Caio Borralho has what it takes to beat him, the Fighting Nerds standout sees things differently. In fact, their time together as training partners has given the Brazilian fighter the proper insight on how to beat Chimaev.

At a time when they were still teammates back in November of last year, Borralho surprisingly gave away the keys to beat Chimaev, after the latter utterly dismantled Robert Whittaker at UFC 308.

In an interview with Submission Radio, Borralho said:

"It's not an easy task to beat Khamzat. He's very athletic, very good, his wrestling is on point all the time. The key to beating him is to know how to defend his takedowns, to know his patterns before he shoots for a takedown. Because whenever he shoots it's almost already gone. So you need to know his patterns and how he prepares himself before he shoots a takedown. If he grabs you, you need to know what his next step is and what he wants you to do, so you don't do what he wants."

Check out Caio Borralho's comments on Khamzat Chimaev below (2:30):

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Duane is an expert MMA writer at Sportskeeda with over 10 years of experience working for the likes of Philippine Star, Esquire Philippines, Playboy Philippines, etc. A major in English, he has written over 2000 articles for Sportskeeda section, extensively covering UFC and boxing fights.

Duane is a practicing MMA fighter with a 11-7 record. He is also a Brazilian jiu-jitsu purple belt and trains Muay Thai. His connection with MMA dates back to 2005, when he turned into a fan after watching Fedor Emelianenko defeat Mirko ‘Cro Cop’ Filipovic at Pride FC - Final Conflict 2005.

Emelianenko finds himself right at the top of Duane’s Mt. Rushmore of MMA fighters, alongside other big names like Demetrious Johnson, Jon Jones, Georges St-Pierre, and Anderson Silva.

Duane’s love for the sport is reflected in his writings, where he believes in speculating but not insinuating. He uses his intensive knowledge and skills in MMA to provide unique insights to the readers, along with sourcing information only from reliable sources.

Outside of work, Duane enjoys martial arts training, visual arts, film criticism, video games, and creative writing.

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Edited by Tejas Rathi