Sean Strickland slams Caio Borralho for taking title fight backup role before UFC Paris: "He's an idiot"

Caio Borralho filling in as a backup fighter in a title contest prior to his octagon comeback at UFC Paris has angered Sean Strickland. The former middleweight champion referred to Borralho as "an idiot," as he wanted him to focus entirely on his scheduled bout.

For context, Borralho served as the backup fighter last month at UFC 319, which was headlined by a middleweight title fight between then-champion Dricus du Plessis and Khamzat Chimaev in Chicago. The highly anticipated contest went ahead as planned without any complications as Chimaev was crowned the new 185-pound kingpin via unanimous decision.

As for Borralho, who was riding a 14-fight win streak, he faced top contender Nassourdine Imavov in the main event of UFC Paris on Saturday at the Accor Arena in Paris. The Brazilian displayed his resilience but lost via unanimous decision, suffering his first defeat in the UFC.

Strickland, who has previously trained with Borralho at the Xtreme Couture gym, was disappointed with the 32-year-old's performance against Imavov. 'Tarzan' chastised him on X:

''Caio is my buddy but he's an idiot. He trained with us and was useless. Me, "whats wrong with you." Caio, "I'm cutting, I'm an alternate." So you're giving up 4 weeks of your camp cutting weight twice while having a fight coming up? Whoever told you to do that, please hit him.''

Sean Strickland

@SStricklandMMA

Caio is my buddy but hes an idiot. He trained with us and was useless. Me "whats wrong with you" Caio "Im cutting, im an alternate" So you're giving up 4 weeks of your camp cutting weight twice while having a fight coming up? Whoever told you to do that, please hit him

In his last octagon outing at UFC 312 earlier this year, Strickland failed to reclaim his middleweight title from du Plessis after he suffered a unanimous decision loss in their rematch. The 34-year-old's comeback has been delayed since the Nevada State Athletic Commission (NSAC) suspended him for six months for his involvement in an altercation with MMA fighter Luis Hernandez on June 29. Notably, he entered the cage and attacked Hernandez during the Tuff-N-Uff 145 event in Las Vegas.