Belgaroui adds ground work before Borralho, Glover says

Glover Teixeira, the former UFC champion who coaches Yousri Belgaroui, says the Dutch fighter has been putting in extra ground work ahead of his fight with Caio Borralho at UFC 334 on Nov. 14 at Madison Square Garden in New York. According to Teixeira, Belgaroui stays after practice to roll for another 20 minutes with wrestlers and jiu-jitsu partners.

Teixeira spoke to journalist Marcelo Alonso on the PVT show, and Sherdog published his comments on Tuesday. Alonso, who also writes for VF Comunica, asked the coach about his fighter’s progress.

What Glover Teixeira said about Belgaroui

Teixeira described a fighter who enjoys grappling, which is not the first thing you notice on Belgaroui’s record. “Yousri trains a lot and picks things up very quickly. And he likes training on the ground,” the coach said.

After practice, Teixeira said, “he grabs someone doing wrestling or jiu-jitsu and rolls for another 20 minutes.” He added that Belgaroui “has an impressive sense of distance” and is “becoming a complete MMA fighter.”

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Teixeira did not downplay the challenge. He called Borralho “without a doubt one of the biggest challenges in the division.”

Belgaroui’s kickboxing and UFC record

Born in Amsterdam, Belgaroui built his name in kickboxing before MMA. In Glory, he beat Alex Pereira by unanimous decision in a middleweight contender tournament final, then lost twice to the Brazilian, once by TKO and once by knockout, the second time with the title on the line.

Pereira made the same move from kickboxing to MMA and faced the same questions about his ground game, as VF Comunica explained in its story on Poatan’s jiu-jitsu black belt.

In MMA, Belgaroui is 11-3 with nine knockouts and no submissions. All three losses came on the scorecards, including one to Brazil’s Marco Tulio on the Contender Series in 2023. He returned a year later, stopped Taiga Iwasaki and earned a contract.

He is 3-0 in the UFC, all by TKO: Azamat Bekoev in October 2025, Mansur Abdul-Malik in March and Djorden Santos in September at Noche UFC. He is not yet ranked in the middleweight top 15.

How Caio Borralho reacted to the matchup

Borralho, the No. 5 middleweight, is 18-2 in MMA and 8-1 in the UFC. His only UFC loss came against Nassourdine Imavov in September 2025 in Paris. In March, he beat Reinier de Ridder by unanimous decision at UFC 326.

The Brazilian did not hide his disappointment at being paired with an unranked opponent. On his YouTube channel, shortly after the fight was announced, he said: “When you look at it at first, emotionally, it’s a fight that makes no sense at all.” He added: “My first reaction was one of surprise and frustration.”

Then he changed his tone. “But then I spoke to my manager and said, ‘Tell them that if this is the fight they think makes sense, I accept it,’” Borralho said. “Because I’m a fighter and fighters fight.”

Borralho’s grappling against Belgaroui’s striking

That is why Teixeira’s comments matter. Borralho started judo at age six in São Luís and took up jiu-jitsu at his sensei’s demand after losing a judo match by armlock, as he told Sherdog. His jiu-jitsu coach is Wagner Mota, who worked with Demian Maia for 12 years.

Four of Borralho’s 18 wins came by submission. Belgaroui has never won by submission and has never been submitted or knocked out in MMA. The extra mat time is his answer to the area where Borralho, on paper, has the edge.

The fight is on the UFC 334 main card, headlined by Ciryl Gane vs. Josh Hokit for the heavyweight title, with Amanda Nunes returning against Kayla Harrison for the bantamweight belt.

Do you think 20 extra minutes on the mat will be enough for Belgaroui to handle Caio Borralho’s grappling, or will the Brazilian take it down and win? Tell us in the comments.

Read more:

• Amanda Nunes won’t retire again if she beats Kayla Harrison
• Is Poatan a Jiu-Jitsu black belt? Alex Pereira’s promotion and his record on the ground
• Charles Oliveira ready to give up BMF belt before UFC 335