Borg withdraws from UFC Chile after son undergoes surgeries

Ray Borg has withdrawn from his fight with Brandon Moreno at UFC Chile to care for his newborn son, who has had two brain surgeries.

After two unsuccessful bookings, it looked like Ray Borg and Brandon Moreno would finally meet at UFC Fight Night 129 on the third attempt. Sadly, that won’t be the case, as Borg has withdrawn from the fight to care for his newborn son who has recently had two brian surgeries.

MMAFighting first reported the news. It’s been a rough start to the year for Borg; he and Moreno were booked to fight at UFC Austin in February, but an injury to Moreno meant the fight was scrapped. The pair were again booked to meet at UFC 223 on April 7th, however a rampant attack by Conor McGregor on a bus left Borg with multiple corneal abrasions, which made him unfit to fight.

Borg revealed last Monday that his newborn son, Anthony, had developed hydrocephalus, a build-up of fluid on the brain. The first surgery he had the following day was described by Borg as a “success”, but he later revealed a shunt was placed in Anthony’s brain that didn’t “quite work for him.” The 24-year-old has since posted updates of his son’s second surgery.

Combate’s Raphael Marinho is reporting that Alexandre Pantoja will replace Borg to fight Moreno at UFC Fight Night 129 on May 19th. The event will take place in Santiago, Chile and will be headlined by a welterweight bout between Kamaru Usman and short-notice opponent Demian Maia, who filled in for the injured Santiago Ponzinibbio.