Ray Borg has had a long and tough journey in the sport of MMA. He’s not ready to walk away just yet.
Ray Borg, a former UFC flyweight title challenger, was released from the UFC last August. That came after he withdrew from two consecutive fights. Over his UFC tenure Borg withdrew or had fights cancelled at a rate unlike most other competitors. The reasons why were myriad and included injuries, bad weight cuts and misfortune.
After his release Borg announced his retirement from the sport. Though, he soon walked back that statement. Now it seems Borg has found a new home to ply his trade. He’s set to fight Jesse Arnett on June 19th at UAE Warriors 20.
“I’m extremely excited to get an opportunity to fight for UAE Warriors and prove to myself that I’m one of the best bantamweights in the world,” Borg said in a statement (transcription via MMAJunkie). “I’m grateful for the opportunity they’ve given me.”
When it’s all said and done all I want is for my son to be able to look back and know that his dad left it all out there and never gave up. pic.twitter.com/I2c8TDnuRP
— Ray Borg (@tazmexufc) March 22, 2021
Borg entered the UFC in 2014 with a split decision loss to Dustin Ortiz. He followed that up with a win over Shane Howell. His next two bookings ended up being cancelled, one due to an opponent injury and one to an injury he himself suffered.
In 2015 Borg beat Chris Kelades and Geane Herrera before losing to Justin Scoggins. A pair of cancelled bouts followed. Borg was forced out of a fight with Fredy Serrano due to injury and then fell sick days before he was due to fight Ian McCall.
Next up he beat Louis Smolka and Jussier Formiga to secure a title shot versus then champion Demetrious Johnson. Another botched weight cut lead to that fight being cancelled. The pair would meet at UFC 216 in 2017, with Johnson getting the win with a highlight reel submission.
A flurry of fight cancellations followed this. Borg was due to meet Brandon Moreno at UFC 223, but he had to withdraw when pieces of glass caught his eye during the infamous Conor McGregor bus attack. The bout was rescheduled, but Borg was again forced to pull out. This time it was because his infant son required major surgery.
Months later Borg was booked to face Joseph Benavidez, but he withdrew citing ‘medical issues’. In 2019 he got back in the cage and took a loss to Casey Kenney. Then, also in 2019, he had two fights fall through because of injuries to his opponents.
His next two bouts were wins over Gabriel Silva and Rogerio Bontorin. In 2020 Borg saw a fight with Marlon Vera at UFC 249 fall through after the event was initially cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
His last UFC fight was at the short-lived Jacksonville bubble last year, where he lost to Ricky Simon. He pulled out of fights with Merab Dvalishvili and Nate Maness before being released by the promotion.