Due to his order of protection against Conor McGregor, UFC flyweight contender Ray Borg won’t be fighting at UFC 229 after all.
Joseph Benavidez and Ray Borg are still set to meet as initially planned, just a month later.
Benavidez vs. Borg has been moved to UFC Fight Night 139, which takes place in November in Denver. The pivotal flyweight bout was first booked for UFC 229 on Oct. 6 in Las Vegas. Denver Post reported the switch on Tuesday.
Initially, according to ESPN’s Brett Okamoto, Benavidez vs. Borg was removed from UFC 229 due to Borg’s order of protection against Conor McGregor, who headlines the card against lightweight champion Khabib Nurmagomedov.
In a later tweet, however, Okamoto said a UFC source denied that McGregor had anything to do with the change. The UFC simply preferred the fight after “further discussion” to take place in Denver.
McGregor injured Borg, plus two others, in an April bus attack ahead of UFC 223, at which Nurmagomedov won the title. The Irish superstar and ex-champ threw a dolly at a UFC bus holding fighters following the event’s media day.
McGregor last month agreed to a plea deal, which included Borg’s order of protection.
Benavidez is coming off a decision loss to Sergio Pettis at UFC 225 in June. That loss snapped a six-fight winning streak and was his first defeat dating back to the end of 2013, when he fell to then-champ Demetrious Johnson. Benavidez holds a December 2016 win over newly crowned titleholder Henry Cejudo.
Borg hasn’t competed since an October 2017 loss to “Mighty Mouse,” who tapped Borg out with an armbar in the fifth round that earned 2017’s “Submission of the Year.” Borg won consecutive bouts before his title shot with decisions over Jussier Formiga and Louis Smolka.
UFC Fight Night 139 takes place Nov. 10 at Pepsi Center. In the main event, Frankie Edgar meets Chan Sung Jung at featherweight. Also on the card, hometown hero Donald Cerrone faces Mike Perry at welterweight.