UFC Paris blew the roof off Accor Arena this past weekend (Sat., Sept. 6, 2025), leaving several fighters feeling the post-fight blues. Among them was Mauricio Ruffy, who had his momentum stopped at the hands of Benoit Saint-Denis after he choked him out in the second round (see it again here).
And let’s not forget about Paul Craig, who was sent into retirement with another tough loss, this time at the hands of Modestas Bukauskas (see it again here). But which fighter is suffering from the worst post-fight
hangover, now a few days removed from the show?
Coming into his headlining fight against Nassourdine Imavov, Borralho was one of four finalists to be Khamzat Chimaev’s first challenge as champion, with Imavov, Reinier de Ridder and Anthony Hernandez being the other three. While it has proven to be a daunting task to fight Chimaev, it’s still a nice dangling carrot that contenders were eying.
Borralho had been nothing short of impressive during his run inside the Octagon, winning his first seven fights with the promotion, extending his win streak to 17 overall. Unfortunately for the Fighting Nerds team member, he didn’t quite show up this time around as he had previously done.
For 25 minutes, Borralho didn’t put up enough offense to offer much of a threat, getting down early in the scorecards with a finish being his only hope to win once the championship rounds kicked in. It never came, and the offense uptick didn’t either. Once the final horn sounded, it was clear that Imavov had done enough to secure the unanimous decision win, ending Borralho’s championship dreams for the time being.
“Maybe the defeat makes you forget. Forget the struggle to get here. From the days when no one believed. From tiredness. Of all deliveries. And it hurts,” said Borralho after the defeat.“ Perhaps the defeat makes you think that all this was in vain. But it wasn’t. Defeat teaches us. Reveal. Build,” he continued.
“I am sure that defeat will shape me more than any victory. You learn to get up by falling. By falling is how you learn to keep going. Because in the end, it’s not all about winning and losing. It’s on the way. About who you take and become during the process And this… No defeat can ever take me away/ I’m coming back, boys.”
At 32 years of age, Borralho still has time to make his move toward a title shot, but we aren’t going to deny the fact that this loss is crushing. It took him a while to get here, and the field will only get tougher moving forward, which means his climb back to the top will be that much more grueling.
As far as who he could potentially face in his bounce back fight, I wouldn’t mind putting him up against the loser of the upcoming fight between Anthony Hernandez and Reinier de Ridder. The winner of the fight could very well get a shot at the title, so the booking of loser vs. loser makes sense here. De Ridder is currently ranked No. 4, while Hernandez sits at No. 6, just one spot ahead of Borralho.
It’s an interesting time in the Middleweight division with a new scary champion at the top, and former champions such as Israel Adesanya nowhere to be seen, Sean Strickland suspended and a former Bellator title contender now the Top 10 in Michael Page. There are a lot of fun matchups to be made, so whoever Borralho gets next will be a tough challenge for him.
