The UFC has booked Caio Borralho in opposition to Reinier de Ridder for UFC 326 on March 7, 2026, on the T-Cell Area in Las Vegas. The middleweight bout will happen on the identical card headlined by Max Holloway’s BMF title protection in opposition to Charles Oliveira. The news was first released by Léo Walker Guimaraes.
Caio Borralho Takes on Reinier De Ridder in UFC 326 Middleweight Bout
Borralho, the Brazilian striker-grappler from the Combating Nerds, misplaced a aggressive unanimous determination to Nassourdine Imavov at UFC Paris in September 2025. De Ridder, the Dutch submission specialist and former ONE Championship two-division champion, suffered his first UFC loss when Brendan Allen pressured him to stop on the stool between rounds 4 and 5 at UFC Vancouver in October. Each are coming off high-ranked losses.
Borralho enters the battle ranked eighth within the middleweight division with a UFC report freed from losses till the Imavov bout. The 32-year-old Brazilian had racked up seven straight wins earlier than going through Imavov, together with a five-round determination over former title challenger Jared Cannonier in August 2024. His well-rounded method, mixing wrestling, grappling, and putting, has made him a constant risk at middleweight. Previous to the Imavov loss, Borralho had weighed in as a backup fighter for the UFC 319 title bout between Khamzat Chimaev and Dricus du Plessis.
De Ridder arrives on the matchup ranked ninth, with knowledgeable report of 21-3 and a 4-1 UFC mark. The 34-year-old’s lone UFC defeat got here to Allen after he’d proven spectacular type within the promotion, together with a cut up determination victory over Robert Whittaker in July. De Ridder’s grappling prowess and submission threats had positioned him as a darkish horse contender, although the Allen loss uncovered his vulnerability to sustained ground-and-pound and cardio administration over prolonged rounds.
Each fighters discover themselves within the place of needing an announcement win to regain momentum in a stacked middleweight division led by undefeated champion Chimaev. The pairing makes aggressive sense, providing every fighter an opportunity to climb again towards the title image whereas delivering a probably high-level technical matchup between two grapplers with distinct kinds.
