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The former UFC title challenger says that messages from former students and a conversation with his wife drew him back to MMA after considering retirement.
At this point in the nearly 30-year history of the UFC, it’s no secret that walking away from the sport of MMA is an incredibly difficult decision for most fighters. The competitive drive that fuels the rise of a top-flight athlete rarely ever gets turned off, even when age, health, or life circumstances suggest that it might be best to do something else.
For Ray Borg, the moment of reckoning with his future as a professional fighter came in late August. The former flyweight title challenger had recently been forced from a UFC bout against Nate Maness—for the ninth time in his Octagon career, and the second time in two months. The refocusing of priorities surrounding his son’s battle with hydrocephalus have made getting to fight night an especially difficult task for Borg over the past couple years. And after his latest fight cancellation, the UFC terminated his contract.
“I appreciate all the love the MMA community has shown my family over the years but it may be time to move on to the next chapter of my life,” Borg wrote in a post on Instagram, announcing his retirement.
But, almost as quickly as the post went up, it was deleted. Banished to the realms of Alexander Gustafsson, Luke Rockhold, Bobby Green, and other short lived MMA farewells.
During a recent conversation with Sherdog.com, Borg explained what prompted him to retire in the first place, and how – along with some tough words from his wife – messages from former students and others in the combat sports community brought him back to fighting.
“To be honest, my depression and stress got the best of me, and I was really in it that day. I was done. I just really didn’t want more of the sport,” Borg said of his decision to retire. “I have a family, a wife and a son, and the first thing I thought to myself was I let myself get cut from the UFC, and I’ve got to put food on the table. I think the best thing to do for myself and my family is to straight up get a nine to five [job]. As gut wrenching as something like that is to say.
“I had intentions on retiring. I really did. But I started getting messages from people, and the ones that really hit me hard were messages from kids I used to coach and train. Young kids who come from troubled beginnings. And I always told them to work hard and they can get themselves out of the gutter. And I had some kids message me saying, ‘Hey coach, you can’t retire. You taught me to be tougher than that. It’s too soon for you, you’re only 27.’
“Then I talked to me wife,” Borg added. “And to be honest, my wife didn’t know I decided I was going to retire. So she comes at me, ‘What are you doing? Why are you retiring?’ I was like, I have to. I’ve got to pay the bills for you guys. And she’s like, ‘Nah, you can’t.’ And she let me know I owe it to my son. I can’t have my son look at me in 10 years and tell me, ‘Dad, why did you quit?’”
Borg last competed back in May of 2020, dropping a split decision to Ricky Simon in his return to the bantamweight division. The ‘Tazmexican Devil’ has gone 2-2 with the UFC since losing to Demetrious Johnson in a battle for the flyweight strap back at UFC 216 in 2017. It seems likely that with a serious re-dedication to MMA, and a couple wins, he could be back in the UFC in short order.