MMA: Borg misses weight, says he'll retire
Apr. 22—Albuquerque MMA fighter Ray Borg says he will retire after failing to make weight for his scheduled fight on Saturday on Bellator 295 in Honolulu.
"Things did not go as planned this weekend and I will not be fighting," Borg wrote on Facebook. "I made a promise to myself that if another incident like this ever happened I would retire.
"So going forward I am officially out of the game and hanging it up."
As a result of his failure to make weight, Borg was released not only by Bellator but by Dominance MMA, his longtime management company.
Borg, 29, has a history of failing to make weight. Repeated such incidents resulted in his release by the UFC in 2020, after having fought nine times on that organization's promotions — including a loss to champion Demetrious Johnson in a bid for the UFC flyweight (125-pound) title in October 2017.
After his release from the UFC, Borg returned to competition with a fight on a UAE Warriors card in Abu Dhabi and two on Khabib Nurmagomedov's Eagle FC — all victories at the bantamweight limit of 135 pounds, improving his overall record to 16-5.
Saturday's fight against Japanese veteran Kyoji Horiguchi was to have been Borg's debut in Bellator competition.
"It's good to be here," he said on Wednesday during a Bellator news conference. "I'm excited."
On Friday, however, Borg never even made it to the scale.
The fight against Horiguchi was arranged at the flyweight limit of 125 pounds, a division in which Borg hadn't fought since defeating Rogerio Bonterin at the Santa Ana Star Center (now the Rio Rancho Events Center) in February 2020.
Even then, he failed to make the contracted weight and was allowed to fight after weighing in at 128 pounds.
Through his management team, Borg tried to salvage the Horiguchi fight by switching it back to the bantamweight limit of 135.
"Unfortunately," Dominance MMA said in a statement, "Mr. Borg was not willing or able to make that weight (135), 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."
