Author: admin

Photo by Jeff Bottari/Zuffa LLC/Zuffa LLC via Getty Images

Jessica Eye and Cynthia Calvillo are set to share the spotlight this Saturday night (June 13, 2020), as the talented Flyweights will headline UFC on ESPN 10 from inside UFC APEX in Las Vegas, Nevada.

Calvillo (8-1-1) got off to a scorching start to her mixed martial arts (MMA) career, going 6-0, 3-0 inside the Octagon. Her first three performances really caught Dana White’s eyes, who took a liking to Calvillo and teased that she could be a future star for the promotion. At UFC 219, however, she ran into former division champion, Carla Esparza, who dominated her en rout to a unanimous decision win.

After serving a nine-month suspension for failing a drug test, Calvillo returned to win two straight before fighting to a draw against Marina Rodriguez.

Eye, meanwhile, is 4-1 in her last five bouts with her lone loss coming at the hands of division champion, Valentina Shevchenko, Indeed, “Evil” was knocked out by “Bullet” via vicious head kick at UFC 238.

Before the two get it on inside the Octagon, let’s take a trip down memory lane to see an impressive performance from each of them, as Cynthia Calvillo defeats Cortney Casey in the video player embedded above. And see Eye defeat Jessica-Rose Clark below.

Remember that MMAmania.com will deliver LIVE round-by-round, blow-by-blow coverage of the entire UFC on ESPN 10 fight card this weekend, starting with the ESPN+“Prelims” that are scheduled to begin at 6 p.m. ET, then the main card portion that will also stream on ESPN+ at 9 p.m. ET.

To check out the latest and greatest UFC on ESPN 10: “Eye vs. Calvillo” news and notes be sure to hit up our comprehensive event archive right here.

Photo by Mike Roach/Zuffa LLC/Zuffa LLC via Getty Images

Ray Borg has been forced out of his scheduled showdown against Merab Dvalishvili, which was set to go down at UFC on ESPN 10 this Saturday night (June 13, 2020) inside UFC APEX in Las Vegas, Nevada.

No exact reason was given, though Borg did say it was for personal reasons. He later took to Twitter to post a message to his son, who has had medical issues from a very young age, though what exactly is going on this time around is unknown.

Early reports had Combate Americas Bantamweight champion, Gustavo Lopez, pegged as Ray’s replacement. A while later, another report revealed that Lopez was still under contract with Combate. Company owner, Campbell McLaren, took to social media to take a dig at his champ.

“Bad move from Gustavo Lopez he’s under contract with Combate Americas,” he wrote.

Minutes later, Gustavo’s manager chimed in by saying the mistake was on his part, and revealed that he asked for his client to be released from his contract so that he could proceed with the fight.

An hour later, McLaren announced that the promotion had granted Lopez his release so that he would be allowed to compete on Saturday.

“Combate Americas has decided to allow Gustavo Lopez to move forward and fight in the UFC this Saturday night,” he wrote. “We wish him the best of luck with the rest of his career.”

We have a fight!

Photo by Douglas P. DeFelice/Getty Images

Ray Borg is off this weekend’s UFC fight card, due to what appears to be a family emergency. Dvalishvili set to fight Combate champ Gustavo Lopez.

By all appearances, Ray Borg has been forced to withdraw from his UFC Apex 1: Eye vs. Calvillo bout against Merab Dvalishvili due to a family emergency. MMA has Junkie reported that the former flyweight title challenger has been taken off the card due to “personal reasons.”

Shortly before the news broke, Borg sent a brief message out on Twitter that read, “Family first, see you soon son.”

Anthony Borg was born with a rare condition called hydrocephalus. The brain disease has required multiple surgeries and resulted in Borg spending significant amounts of time away from his fighting career in the past. In a 2019 interview with ESPN, Borg spoke about his son’s condition and the internal struggles he’s had over weather or not to continue his pro fighting career.

“This sport has been so up and down for me, and it just started to hit me that maybe a 9-to-5 would be less stressful on my family,” Borg said, “Everything almost drove me away from fighting — but my son wouldn’t allow it. If he was going to keep fighting, there was no way I wasn’t going to.”

Hopefully the ‘Tazmexican Devil’ will be able to take care of his family and return to the cage again soon.

For Merab Dvalishvili, who he’ll face Saturday remains somewhat uncertain. In the same article noting Borg’s withdrawal from this weekend’s UFC event, MMA Junkie reported that Combate Americas champion Gustavo Lopez (11-4) had signed on to take the extremely short notice bout. The 30-year-old Xtreme Couture fighter is 3-1 in the Combate promotion, having dropped a split decision to Jose Alday in his debut—a loss he’s since avenged.

Unfortunately for Lopez, as soon as the news came out, Combate Americas president Campbell McLaren cast a major cloud of doubt over whether or not the fight could actually get made.

FanSided’s Amy Kaplan provided an update on the situation after speaking to McLaren, confirming that the Combate Americas champ is indeed still under contract with the promotion, and that “they were not given their right to match,” his UFC contract offer.

Lopez’s manager, Daniel Rubenstein took to Twitter in the aftermath to put the blame squarely on his own shoulders for taking the UFC offer before requesting Lopez’s release.

Hopefully all sides can come together and get this sorted in both Lopez and Dvalishvili’s best interest. If it can’t be sorted fast, it seems likely that the UFC will just end up dropping Dvalishvili’s fight from the card altogether. Stay tuned to Bloody Elbow for more news and updates.