Tom Aspinall backs 'unpredictable' Caio Borralho to give Paul Craig 'a lot of problems' in UFC 301 fight

Paul Craig could be given "a lot of problems" by the "unpredictable" style of Caio Borralho at UFC 301 this weekend, according to interim heavyweight champion Tom Aspinall.

Borralho is undefeated in any mixed martial arts promotion since 2015, and has won all five of his fights in the UFC proper since graduating from Dana White's Contender Series, where he also had back-to-back victories.

The pick of those was a second-round rear naked choke submission against Michal Oleksiejczuk exactly a year ago, winning Performance of the Night. He's since picked up a victory in his native Brazil, and now returns to his homeland again for his second career appearance on a numbered UFC card.

Like Borralho, Craig has also fought at both middleweight and light-heavyweight. Scottish brawler Craig has not had the same recent success, however, losing three of his last four outings.

Craig's overall UFC record stands at 9-7, with his previous visit to Rio de Janeiro in January of last year seeing a round-one TKO defeat to Johnny Walker at UFC 283.

The 36-year-old did follow that up with one bright spot, though, winning Performance of the Night for a TKO triumph on his middleweight debut against Andre Muniz - incidentally, on the undercard for his fellow Brit, Aspinall, in London.

As part of Tom Aspinall's Fight Lab on TNT Sports, the current interim heavyweight champion previewed Saturday night's showdown, which is live on TNT Sports and discovery+, and lavished praise on both fighters for their unique approaches to the octagon.

Aspinall said of Borralho: "This guy is very unpredictable. He's going to become a lot more popular because of his style.

"He switches up a lot and is very bouncy on his feet. It's hard to tell which foot he likes to lean on. A lot of his attacks are very long body kicks.

"He'll move around a lot, which will cause Paul Craig - who is a grappler - a lot of problems. He'll dip, come high with the flying knee, throw elbows in there. He's just fantastic to watch. It's very hard to fight guys like this. The in-out movement he does with his feet will be overwhelming for the opponent's nervous system."

He continued: "Paul Craig has one of the most unorthodox styles in all of MMA. His strikes are definitely improving. I've trained with Paul a few times. He traps the arm really well - that's when he starts to set up his attacks off his back.

"Paul is predominantly really good with the triangles. It's really hard to defend. It's such an unorthodox style. We've seen it time and time again."

Aspinall has said he is set to fight in Manchester this summer.

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