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Fight By Fight Preview | UFC Fight Night: Cannonier vs Borralho
Breaking Down The Matchups For Saturday’s Return To The UFC APEX Featuring The Ultimate Fighter Season 32 Finals
By E. Spencer Kyte, On X @spencerkyte
Before the UFC can take a break to get ready for the start of the four-month race to the finish line that starts every September, one final August event takes place this weekend at UFC APEX.
Headlined by a compelling middleweight clash between perennial contender Jared Cannonier and ascending Brazilian Caio Borralho and featuring the tournament finals from the latest season of The Ultimate Fighter, Saturday’s fight card promises to be an impactful affair to close out the month.
Here’s a closer look at what is on tap this weekend in the latest edition of the Fight-By-Fight Preview.
Main Event: Jared Cannonier vs Caio Borralho
Former title challenger Jared Cannonier takes on Dana White’s Contender Series standout Caio Borralho in Saturday’s critical middleweight main event.
Cannonier steps into his fourth straight main event looking to rebound from a fourth-round stoppage loss to Nassourdine Imavov in June. He’s 7-3 through 10 starts in the 185-pound weight class, including a win over former champ Sean Strickland, and aims to show that even at “Level 40,” he still has plenty left to offer inside the Octagon.
It took two wins in four weeks for Borralho to convince UFC CEO Dana White to sign him, but since then, the Fighting Nerds representative and Season 5 alum has been on a tear, posting five straight wins to climb into the Top 15. Last time out at UFC 301, Borralho stopped Paul Craig, passing his most difficult challenge to date with relative ease.
Each of these men would benefit significantly from a victory here, and that should ensure we get the best out of both of them on Saturday. Cannonier is looking to cement his position in the divisional hierarchy and avoid losing back-to-back fights for the second time in his career, while the 31-year-old Borralho wants to keep his momentum going by taking out a former title challenger and Top 5 mainstay.
Middleweight took its place under the microscope last weekend in Perth, and this fight is one of a handful over the next several weeks that will further determine how things line up in the division heading into the final few events of the year.
Additional Main Card Matchups
Angela Hill vs Tabatha Ricci
Angela Hill and Tabatha Ricci share the Octagon in a battle of ranked strawweights that serves as the co-main event on Saturday.
Hill enters on a two-fight winning streak and is coming off the first submission win of her UFC career last time out against Luana Pinheiro. She’ll become only the second woman in UFC history to register 25 appearances this weekend, joining Jessica Andrade, and can take another step forward in the rankings by earning a third consecutive victory for just the second time in her extended tenure with the promotion.
After posting four straight victories to begin her run in the 115-pound weight class, Ricci’s momentum has slowed over her last two fights. Following a split decision loss to Loopy Godinez last year at UFC 295, the 29-year-old landed on the happy side of a 2-1 verdict against the returning Tecia Pennington earlier this year.
This represents another opportunity for Ricci to break into the Top 10, but, despite her age, the 39-year-old Hill continues to show that she’s adding to her game and improving each time out. Will the divisional stalwart earn a third straight win or can the Brazilian grappling ace get the better of her strawweight senior?
TUF 32 Middleweight Finale: Ryan Loder vs Robert Valentin
Team Grasso’s Robert Valentin faces off with Team Grasso’s Ryan Loder in the TUF 32 middleweight tournament finale.
Valentin was a dominant force in the 185-pound competition, earning a 15-second knockout win over Giannis Bachar in his opening round matchup before submitting teammate Paddy McCorry to advance to the finals. The 29-year-old Swiss talent is unbeaten in his last five appearances prior to venturing to Las Vegas to take part in the reality TV competition, and it will be interesting to see what further developments he’s made since the season wrapped.
An All-American wrestler at Northern Iowa, Loder quickly submitted Tommy Theocharis to advance to the semifinals, where he earned a unanimous decision win over Team Grasso’s Omran Chaaban. While he’s just seven fights into his professional career, Loder is already 33 years old, so if he’s going to make a run in the UFC, it needs to start this weekend.
TUF 32 Featherweight Finale: Kaan Ofli vs Mairon Santos
It’s Australia versus Brazil in the Team Grasso featherweight finale as Kaan Ofli takes on Mairon Santos.
After earning a two-round decision win over Brit Nathan Fletcher in the opening round, Ofli latched onto Roedie Roets’ neck early in their semifinal matchup, submitting the South African to punch his ticket to this weekend’s finale. The 31-year-old has won eight straight outside of the competition and looks to become the first Australian to win a main season of the long-running reality TV competition and just the second Aussie, along with Robert Whittaker, to join the fraternity of Ultimate Fighter winners.
Neil Magny vs Michael Morales
Neil Magny reprises his role as the welterweight measuring stick in a pairing with undefeated prospect Michael Morales.
This is familiar territory for the 37-year-old Magny, whose last three fights have come against Phil Rowe, Ian Machado Garry, and Mike Malott, and who previously served as the litmus test for other hopefuls like Geoff Neal and Shavkat Rakhmonov. He showed he’s still very much a tough out in the middle of the welterweight Top 15 against Malott in January, weathering the Canadian’s initial push before putting him away down the stretch in the third.
While there hasn't been as much fanfare surrounding Morales as others to graduate from the Contender Series or the unbeaten rising stars in the 170-pound weight class, the 25-year-old has just steadily kept moving forward, earning a pair of wins in each of his first two years on the roster. He posted decision wins over Max Griffin and Jake Matthews in 2023 to move to 16-0 overall, and now takes the next step forward in search of a spot in the rankings.
If you read this series with any regularity, you know I love this type of matchup: a classic test between an established, still game veteran and a promising, but somewhat unproven, hopeful. Magny can potentially get himself a break from this part by handing Morales his first loss, while the 25-year-old could catapult himself into the thick of things by collecting a fifth straight UFC win.
Edmen Shahbazyan vs Gerald Meerschaert
Edmen Shahbazyan and Gerald Meerschaert will square off in the first of three middleweight bouts on Saturday's main card.
After rocketing out of the gates with four wins in his first year on the roster, Shahbazyan hit a gnarly patch that resulted in four losses in five fights. He rebounded with a come-from-behind, knockout win over AJ Dobson earlier this year, and is still only 26 years old, which means there is room for “The Golden Boy” to continue working out the kinks and further developing his skill set.
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Ten years Shahbazyan’s senior, Meerschaert returns to Las Vegas looking for his second win at the UFC APEX this year after submitting Bryan Barberena back in March. “GM3” is a crafty veteran that will make you pay for your mistakes, especially in the grappling department, so this should be a chance to get a good read on the adjustments Shahbazyan has made since his last outing.
Preliminary Card Pairings
Danny Silva vs Dennis Buzukja
Featherweights Danny Silva and Dennis Buzukja meet in the final preliminary card fight of the month this weekend in Las Vegas.
A member of the DWCS Class of ’22, Silva earned a split decision win over Josh Culibao in his promotional debut earlier this year, advancing to 9-1 overall in the process. After landing on the wrong side of the results in his first two UFC appearances, Buzukja finally broke through with a victory last time out, stopping Connor Matthews in the second round of their March encounter.
Zachary Reese vs Jose Daniel Medina
Middleweights that competed last season on Dana White’s Contender Series share the Octagon here as Zachary Reese faces off with Jose Daniel Medina.
Reese dispatched Julian Marquez in 20 seconds back in June, promptly rebounding from his first career loss while maintaining his streak of never venturing beyond the first round. Medina’s durability and moxie earned him a contract last season despite his landing on the wrong side of a unanimous decision verdict.
Viacheslav Borshchev vs James Llontop
It’s Season 5 versus Season 7 in this DWCS battle in the lightweight division as Viacheslav Borshchev takes on James Llontop.
“Slava Claus” went 1-0-1 in 2023 with a stoppage win over Maheshate and a majority draw with Nazim Sadykhov, but had his two-fight unbeaten streak halted by Chase Hooper last time out. Llontop, who bested returning hopeful Malik Lewis to earn his contract last season, stumbled out of the gates in April, missing weight before getting submitted by late replacement Chris Padilla in their joint UFC debuts.
Jacqueline Cavalcanti vs Josiane Nunes
Jacqueline Cavalcanti seeks her second straight UFC victory while Josiane Nunes aims to get back into the win column in this preliminary card fixture in the bantamweight division.
The 26-year-old Cavalcanti made her successful promotional debut last September, besting Zarah Fairn in Paris to advance her overall winning streak to four. Nunes won her first three UFC appearances to climb into the rankings, but landed on the wrong side of the cards against Chelsea Chandler last time out.
Wang Cong vs Victoria Leonardo
Wang Cong makes her first trip into the Octagon against Victoria Leonardo in the first bout of Saturday’s card at the UFC APEX.
After beating UFC veteran Wu Yanan at the start of the year, Wang, a former world champion in Sanda who also boasts a kickboxing win over Valentina Shevchenko, earned a first-round submission win in a Road to UFC non-tournament bout in May to garner the opportunity to compete inside the UFC cage. Leonardo has fought a tough slate since earning a contract on Season 4 of Dana White’s Contender Series, going 1-3 in four starts with stoppage losses to Manon Fiorot, Melissa Gatto and Natalia Silva.
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