Caio Borralho didn’t feel like himself at UFC Fight Night 258.

The Brazilian middleweight contender said he lacked the fire needed to dig deep and get that extra gear to fight for the victory. Borralho (17-2 MMA, 7-1 UFC) lost a unanimous decision to fellow contender Nassourdine Imavov (17-4 MMA, 9-2 UFC) in the main event of UFC Fight Night 258 on Saturday at Accor Arena in Paris.

“I think Nassourdine was just the better man today,” Borralho said in his in-cage, post-fight interview. “He was very fast, as I was expecting. He did very good in the fight. I couldn’t attack that much. I wanted to make this fight entertaining for the fans and for the UFC, so I tried to strike with one of the best strikers in the world, and that’s what you guys saw: a great war.

“I just think that I need to find my adrenaline back. I need to find, not motivation, but I was with no adrenaline or nothing. I couldn’t pick it up into the fight. But this is the fight business. I’m a happy athlete. I’m a happy guy here in the UFC.”

Prior to UFC Fight Night 258, Borralho was on an impressive 16-fight win streak that spanned over a decade. Although that came to an end along with his hopes to fight champion Khamzat Chimaev for the UFC middleweight belt, at least for the immediate future, Borralho was grateful for the experience fighting in France.

“First of all, I want to say France, thank you so much for having us,” Borralho said. “You guys, I heard that you guys were some of the craziest fans in MMA, and it was right. Thank you for that. Thank you, Nassourdine for the respect. Thank you so much.”

This article originally appeared on MMA Junkie: Caio Borralho felt ‘no adrenaline’ in UFC Fight Night 258 loss

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