They say any publicity is good publicity, even if the point of advertisement isn’t you, per se.
That’s the situation Ray Borg found himself in after the whole squabble between Flyweight Demetrious Johnson, TJ Dillashaw and Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) president Dana White went down.
After stating he was waiting to fight Borg, Johnson went to the media to air all of his dirty laundry with the promotion, all while explaining why he wasn’t too interested in facing Dillashaw. And while Borg admits he liked that his name was getting out there, over the last few days, it’s just become annoying thanks to the intensified drama.
“At first, at least my name was getting out there,” Borg told ESPN.com. “I thought, ‘Hey, if people didn’t know me before, they do now,” he said.
“But now, the longer it goes, the more annoying and stressful it gets. I have no f—ing clue what’s going on. It was me, TJ and Demetrious in this little bubble, trying to figure out who’s fighting who. Now, it’s all Dana and Demetrious going at it.”
Indeed, Johnson and White seem to be butting heads as to who exactly said what and what threats were (or weren’t) made. In fact, White even went as far as to take the mythical pound-for-pound tag away from “Mighty Mouse” and placed it on Conor McGregor.
For Borg — as well as the rest of the 125-pound weight class — the predicament he now finds himself in is something he didn’t ask for, as Johnson revealed that UFC threatened to shut the whole division down.
“It just sucks because D.J.’s problems with the UFC are his,” Borg said. “He’s not a marketable guy. Maybe it’s because he’s goofy or a family man, I don’t know. But he has his issues with the UFC and what drives me crazy is that it’s being taken out on the whole division. If D.J. has a situation with the UFC, cool. Keep it between those two. It doesn’t need to affect the rest of us trying to make our names and money for our families,” said a worried Borg.
According to the “Tazmexican Devil,” UFC might be missing out on possible goldmines if another fighter becomes champion and sells the division, something “Mighty Mouse” has not been able to do.
“The UFC is claiming they want to close the division because it doesn’t sell? We haven’t had a chance to sell. D.J. has been the only face, and that’s why it hasn’t sold. He’s kind of held it back a little — and that’s not his fault. He’s a great fighter, but unfortunately he’s not what the fans are about right now. They’re bored.”
Any of you vouch for Ray’s comments?