Khamzat Chimaev finally made it to the highest echelon of MMA by winning UFC gold this past August. Now, the next chapter starts, the chapter where ‘Borz’ starts defending his middleweight title. However, Chimaev could be out for the first quarter of next year due to Ramadan. Despite that, Dana White has found a plan to keep the middleweight division moving while the champion sits on the sidelines.

Quite a few contenders are slowly crawling up to title contender status, and Dana White has already announced some major middleweight fights in the coming months. With Sean Strickland and Anthony Hernandez set to fight in February next year, the CEO is reportedly working to set up another 185lbs matchup in March.

Reports claim Dana White is setting up a massive fight to determine Khamzat Chimaev’s opponent

With Sean Strickland and Anthony Hernandez gearing up for their fight, top 10 contenders Caio Borralho and Reinier de Ridder are reportedly preparing to face each other at UFC 326. This report comes from MMA journalist Léo Walker Guimaraes, who confirmed that this fight is going down around the time Ramadan begins.

“EXCLUSIVE: I was able to confirm that Caio Borralho is preparing to face Reinier de Ridder on March 7, UFC 326,” Léo Walker Guimaraes wrote on X.

Caio Borralho and Reinier de Ridder were both on hot streaks before losing their last fights. They’ve shown how exciting they can be inside the Octagon, and the winner could find himself in a title eliminator fight against the winner of the Strickland-Hernandez fight, and determine Khamzat Chimaev‘s first title contender.

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While the confirmation has come from the journalist, we are yet to get an official word on the report from Dana White and Co. Meanwhile, Caio Borralho revealed that he preferred another opponent, whom he wishes to fight at the White House.

Caio Borralho is willing to fight for half the purse on a condition

Caio Borralho did not seem too impressed with Bo Nickal when he defeated Rodolfo Vieira at UFC 322. Thereafter, he expressed his wish to fight the former NCAA Division I champion if the UFC gives him the green light to go for it. In fact, ‘The Natural’ is willing to take a pay cut to fight Nickal at the White House on June 14, which is on President Donald Trump’s birthday.

“Right away, if the UFC offers me Bo Nickal in the White House, I would fight for half the purse… These fighters are excellent in their disciplines, but they don’t yet have the level of a solid top 10 MMA fighter,” Caio Borralho stated on the Sexto Round podcast.

Nevertheless, Caio Borralho also believed that Reinier de Ridder would be a great opponent for him as well, and it seems like that’s what Dana White is looking at. The Fighting Nerds star also name-dropped Robert Whittaker, so until we hear from the UFC brass itself, we’ll have to wait and see what the matchmaking team has cooked up for the fans. Drop your thoughts in the comments below.