Paulo Borrachinha made his UFC debut this past weekend at UFC Fight Night 106, defeating Garreth McClellan by first round TKO.
As far as Octagon debuts go, the Brazilian says that his was a chaotic one.
“I’m in the best physical shape of my life,” Borrachinha said after the fight. “I’m 25, I’ve never felt so good physically, technically. We trained with the help of an idol, (Antonio) Rogerio ‘Minotouro’ (Nogueira), who’s a southpaw, like my opponent. He helped me out a lot. I knew the training was more intense than the fight, so the fight was for sure going to be easier. There’s the pressure of it being my debut, but I managed to embrace the chaos and not choke under to the pressure of debuting in the biggest promotion in the world. I think I managed to turn the pressure into fun, into joy of being here with these fans. I cheered with them, I rooted with them. I felt as if I was in the audience and fighting at the same time. So I think that was the main thing: Not taking the pressure negatively, but positively. Making it into enthusiasm and strength for me to go in there.”
The Brazilian fighter is currently undefeated at 9-0-0. Borrachinha feels that he is only a few fights away from challenging for the UFC Middleweight Title -- which currently is backlogged with contenders.
“I think I have every condition to grow very fast,” Borrachinha says. “I think, in this pace, four or five more fights, I can get there. I think the current champion, (Michael) Bisping, he’s there but he won’t keep it up. I represent the new generation. Motivated, hard-working, I think four more fights and I can get there.”
It was the fight between Borrachinha and McClellan that kicked off the card for UFC Fight Night 106.
