#Bellator295 update:Kyoji Horiguchi vs. Ray Borg has been scrapped, Yancy Medeiros vs.
Charlie Leary will now take place on the main card.— Bellator Public Relations (@BellatorPR)
April 21, 2023
Editor’s note: The article has been updated at 5:10 p.m. ET on
April 21 to add a statement from Borg’s former management as well
as a comment from Bellator head Scott Coker.
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Scheduling Ray Borg for a
flyweight fight did not work out for Bellator MMA.
The promotion broke the news on Friday prior to the weigh-in
ceremony that the 125-pound main card tilt between Borg (16-5) and
Kyoji
Horiguchi (31-5) was no longer happening at Bellator
295. Shortly after this came to light, MMA
Fighting revealed that a Bellator official informed them it was
due to “weight management issues” for Borg. As the fighters were
set to hit the scale, an additional fight was canceled, per
MMA
Junkie, with Keoni Diggs
(10-2) vs. Weber
Almeida (7-1) falling off the lineup. Bellator confirmed
this second fight’s removal as well.
After the conclusion of the ceremonial weigh-ins on Friday,
Bellator head Scott Coker spoke to media about the doubleheader
fight cards. According to
MMA Junkie, Coker said that both Diggs and Borg have been
released from their Bellator contracts.
“I think Ray and Keoni both had catchweights to begin with and we
started with one contract price,” Coker explained (as transcribed
by MMA Junkie), “and then they negotiated a catchweight because
they couldn’t make weight. And then for them to miss weight
completely…When it’s time to fight, this is a professional fight
league. This is not an amateur tournament. I think it’s time to say
goodbye to both of them, and we’re going to move on and let them
fight somewhere else, and good luck.”
Borg had not competed in a fight scheduled at flyweight since he
faced Rogerio
Bontorin at UFC Fight Night 167 in February 2020. Ahead of that
match, Borg exceeded the 126-pound cap by two pounds and received a
30% fine due to multiple weight misses in his UFC tenure. Overall,
Borg hit the scales above the flyweight and bantamweight limits
four times in total, with his most egregious miss 129.5 pounds, or
3.5 above the maximum, when facing Louis
Smolka in 2016. Of note, Borg won all three of the UFC bouts he
missed weight at flyweight. Borg’s career is littered with fight
cancelations, ranging from illness, injury, personal issues or the
occasional problem with his opponent.
Horiguchi was looking to get back to the Bellator cage for the
first time in nearly one year, as he last lost under the Bellator
banner to Patrick Mix
for his bantamweight throne. A pair of wins in Rizin Fighting Federation against Yuto
Hokamura and Hiromasa
Ougikubo – the latter in his first flyweight appearance since
2017 – righted the ship for the Japanese fighter. Back in 2019,
Horiguchi became the second fighter in the history of MMA to
simultaneously hold titles in two separate major organizations, as
he captured the inaugural Rizin bantamweight throne against
Darrion
Caldwell and turned around six months later to claim the
Bellator bantamweight strap from Caldwell.
Following the cancelation of the match, Borg’s management team,
Dominance MMA, released a public statement cutting ties with the
fighter. Dominance MMA wrote that because Borg “was not willing or
able” to make weight, they are choosing to no longer represent
him.
The statement read, “Effective immediately, Dominance MMA will no
longer serve as representation for Ray Borg. We would like to
apologize to Bellator MMA, American Top Team and Kyoji Horiguchi
for the unprofessionalism displayed this week that has forced us to
make this decision. All parties involved did their best to make
this fight happen, including the late offer to book the matchup at
135 pounds, and we thank everyone involved for those efforts.”
“Unfortunately, Mr. Borg was not willing or able to make that
weight, resulting in unnecessary complications for all involved.
Given the circumstances, as well as our own embarrassment, we can
no longer in good faith represent our now former client but wish
him the best in his future endeavors,” it concluded.
Bellator 295, the second part of the promotion’s Hawaiian
doubleheader, will go down at the Neil S. Blaisdell Center in
Honolulu on April 22. The main attraction will see Raufeon
Stots take on Patrick Mix
for the interim 135-pound strap, and the two men have already
successfully made weight. The co-headliner will see local favorite
Ilima-Lei
Macfarlane try to make one more championship run, and she faces
Kana
Watanabe. The other fights on the main billing include Aaron Pico
vs. James
Gonzalez at featherweight, and Yancy
Medeiros comes to blows with Charlie
Leary in a 165-pound catchweight affair.