UFC fighters have voiced their opinions on Ray Borg’s removal from UFC 215 just a day-and-a-half before his scheduled fight with Demetrious Johnson. While Borg has denied that weight-cutting issues were the issue, all signs point to a difficult drop to 125 pounds, which is a weight that has caused Borg to be pulled from […]
UFC fighters have voiced their opinions on Ray Borg’s removal from UFC 215 just a day-and-a-half before his scheduled fight with Demetrious Johnson.
While Borg has denied that weight-cutting issues were the issue, all signs point to a difficult drop to 125 pounds, which is a weight that has caused Borg to be pulled from fights in the past.
Two prominent fellow UFC fighters took to Twitter, and both of them agreed on one thing: more weight classes.
get rid of the fucking weight cut @ufc !Guys are getting sick and ruining business.Add weight classes. Why are we waiting for someone to die
Women’s bantamweight champion Amanda Nunes, who is actually filling in as headliner after “Mighty Mouse” and Borg were pulled from the card, felt the same way after a particularly brutal weight cut prior to UFC 213:
“I was unable to (breathe) and felt off-balance from the pressure in my sinuses,” Nunes said of her weight cut for UFC 213.
Like Borg, Nunes didn’t make it to fight night at UFC 213, and instead will defend her belt against Valentina Schevchenko in the main event of UFC 215 on Saturday, the same main even though Borg was scheduled to fight in against Demetrious Johnson.
The issue of weight cutting has become such a problem that USADA now has rules regarding how much weight a fighter is allowed to cut based on their body weight.
Do you want to see more weight division ls in the UFC? Is weight cutting as big of an issue as it’s being made out to be?
The UFC 215 fallout continues after the loss of the card’s main event flyweight title fight between Demetrious Johnson and Ray Borg. “Mighty Mouse” lost his shot to make history (for now) by breaking the UFC’s title defense record when Borg was forced off the show due to illness. Following Borg’s withdrawl, Perfecting Athletes’ Michelle […]
The UFC 215 fallout continues after the loss of the card’s main event flyweight title fight between Demetrious Johnson and Ray Borg. “Mighty Mouse” lost his shot to make history (for now) by breaking the UFC’s title defense record when Borg was forced off the show due to illness. Following Borg’s withdrawl, Perfecting Athletes’ Michelle […]
Now that fight fans can get back to the real world of MMA after the Conor McGregor-Floyd Mayweather Jr. circus, it’s time for some UFC main events to live up to the billing.
But every so often, and UFC 215 is no exception, main events fall apart at the…
Now that fight fans can get back to the real world of MMA after the Conor McGregor-Floyd Mayweather Jr. circus, it’s time for some UFC main events to live up to the billing.
But every so often, and UFC 215 is no exception, main events fall apart at the last possible second. Late Thursday night, just 48 hours before UFC flyweight champion Demetrious Johnson‘s potential record-breaking title defense against Ray Borg, the fight was called off, per Ariel Helwani of MMA Fighting.
Borg had an illness, but to his credit, he made the best effort to perform his media obligations and not make any excuses. Unfortunately for him, he wasn’t medically cleared to fight Saturday. And with that, Johnson’s history-making performance will just have to wait a little longer.
How much longer has yet to be determined.
Replacing the main event is an exciting matchup between women’s bantamweight champion Amanda Nunes vs. Valentina Shevchenko in a rematch of their closely contested three-round war back in March of last year.
Shevchenko has continued to improve into much more than a stand-up, muay thai fighter. She proved to the world she can fight with anyone, anywhere, in any skill set when she was able to submit Julianna Pena via an armbar in her most recent fight, back in January of this year.
Nunes, to her credit, hasn’t been a slouch, either.
She dismantled Ronda Rousey on Rowdy’s return to the Octagon in the first round, stifling any movement Rousey attempted to make toward her. It was a one-sided beatdown that proved to all of her doubters she is the deserving bantamweight champion of the world.
In her path once again is Shevchenko, who is looking to erase the memory of only the second defeat of her MMA career.
Prediction
Nunes is the champion for a reason, and she has already proved she can beat Shevchenko inside of the Octagon.
While the argument can be made Shevchenko was the better fighter for the third round of their first fight, Nunes has said herself that she wasn’t training to go the distance when they first fought, per Steven Marrocco and Mike Bohn of MMAjunkie. This time, she has.
An in-shape Nunes is a beast. After all, there’s a reason why she’s called The Lioness.
Nunes will look to put the pressure on Shevchenko early and often in the first round, looking to get the challenger back-pedaling against the cage walls to prevent her from sizing up Nunes’ reach.
Shevchenko will have her moments in the fight, including a few straight kicks to Nunes’ body to take out the Brazilian’s power in her hands, but she won’t have much success trying to get into the clinch with Nunes, where she will have a distinct advantage over the champion.
Nunes won’t knock out Shevchenko or get a finish, but she will win in dominant fashion, proving once again why she’s the undisputed 135-pound women’s champion with a five-round, unanimous-decision victory.
Late last night (or very early in the morning, depending on where you live), this weekend’s (Sat., September 9, 2017) UFC 215 from Edmonton, Alberta, was dealt a shocking strike when flyweight title challenger Ray Borg pulled out of his main event title bout against Demetrious Johnson with an illness. Borg, who has a history of […]
Late last night (or very early in the morning, depending on where you live), this weekend’s (Sat., September 9, 2017) UFC 215 from Edmonton, Alberta, was dealt a shocking strike when flyweight title challenger Ray Borg pulled out of his main event title bout against Demetrious Johnson with an illness.
Borg, who has a history of not making the division’s 125-pound limit, was deemed unfit to fight by the UFC’s medical team of doctors due to a viral illness he said was not weight related. This evening, Borg released his first statement to MMA Weekly apologizing to his fans and thanking the UFC:
“First, I want to say I’m sorry to the fans and to Demetrious Johnson for being unable to fight,” Borg said in the statement. “I want to say thank you to Dr. Davidson, the UFC and to Jeff Novitzky for looking out for my health and best interests.
“I also want to add that I am no longer working with Perfecting Athletes and Michelle Ingels, who was not authorized to speak on my behalf.”
Borg was preparing to fight for his UFC championship in a bout that had potential to be historic, but not exactly in his favor. ‘Mighty Mouse’ was preparing to break his tie with all-time great middleweight champion Anderson Silva for the most consecutive title defenses in UFC history, of which he would hold 11 straight if he beat Borg as most expected him to.
The UFC is considering rebooking his fight with Johnson in the coming months, but many have called out for rising young contender Sergio Pettis to get the title shot instead.
Ray Borg released his first statement since being removed from the UFC 215 main event on Saturday. Borg came down with an illness and was deemed unfit to compete against Demetrious Johnson for the flyweight title by UFC doctors. The bout is reported to be rescheduled, but nothing has been confirmed. “First, I want to […]
Ray Borg released his first statement since being removed from the UFC 215 main event on Saturday. Borg came down with an illness and was deemed unfit to compete against Demetrious Johnson for the flyweight title by UFC doctors. The bout is reported to be rescheduled, but nothing has been confirmed. “First, I want to […]
By all rightful expectations, last month’s (Sat., August 26, 2017) massive Floyd Mayweather vs. Conor McGregor boxing match from the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nev., was a fight so big, so grandiose, so “once-in-a-lifetime” that there was bound to be an inevitable hangover for the UFC, who took the risk of having their biggest star face […]
By all rightful expectations, last month’s (Sat., August 26, 2017) massive Floyd Mayweather vs. Conor McGregor boxing match from the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nev., was a fight so big, so grandiose, so “once-in-a-lifetime” that there was bound to be an inevitable hangover for the UFC, who took the risk of having their biggest star face a legend in his own combat sport.
And it’s been a big one, an overarching cloud that has made it feel as if a massive shoulder shrug was emanating from the collective populous of all but the most hardcore and enthusiastic MMA fans.
True, Jon Jones failing for an anabolic steroid after his feel-good comeback win over Daniel Cormier at UFC 214 certainly hasn’t helped the sport maintain any of the precious momentum that was regained during a late-summer push following an atrocious start to 2017. But the sheer lack of buzz and hype for this weekend’s (Sat., September 9, 2017) UFC 215 from Rogers Place in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada, proves just how dependent the UFC currently is on one man – McGregor – and that’s a truly dangerous place to be.
Mark J. Rebilas for USA TODAY Sports
There are many reasons UFC 215 was bound to fail as many expect it to, and the last-minute withdrawal of title challenger Ray Borg was the last straw. But even before Borg pulled out of his main event match-up with longtime flyweight champ Demetrious Johnson, a bout where “Mighty Mouse” was attempting to break his tie with Anderson Silva for the most consecutive title defenses ever, there just wasn’t any anticipation for the event.
Sure, you could come up with a ton of reasons for that, like Dana White’s recent public thrashings of both Johnson and Amanda Nunes, who rematches surging contender Valentina Shevchenko in the new UFC 215 main event, after Johnson refused to fight former bantamweight champ TJ Dillashaw and Nunes pulled out of her scheduled UFC 213 headliner with Shevchenko due to illness.
It’s never good to bash the fighters that are supposed to be making you millions of dollars – it’s counterproductive and the UFC needs new stars now more than they ever have, so calling out your own athletes in the news only loses the promoter money, and potentially lots of it.
Photo by Ron Chenoy for USA TODAY Sports
The main reason for this rain cloud hanging over the UFC and MMA as a whole, however, is the mere absence of McGregor. The UFC has grown too dependent on their biggest star, especially with former women’s champ Ronda Rousey inactive and most likely never to return. “The Notorious” was the clear catalyst during the UFC’s surge to a record-breaking $4.2 billion sale in July 2016, a number that new owners WME-IMG are probably wishing they could rescind after a disastrous 2017.
They put all their eggs into the Rousey and McGregor baskets, and when Rousey got knocked out at UFC 207 and McGregor spent the entire year chasing and eventually getting his boxing ‘super fight’ with Floyd Mayweather, the world’s MMA leader just looked like they didn’t know what to do.
It still seems that way, and even though the last quarter of 2017 will feature one of the biggest fights of the year when longtime former welterweight champion Georges St-Pierre returns to fight middleweight champion Michael Bisping for the belt at UFC 217, it’s going to be an extremely down year for the UFC without a McGregor-headlined card. With McGregor’s coach recently stating he’d probably be out for the rest of 2017, they could still book a trilogy match with longtime rival Nate Diaz for the year-end card that could legitimately save the year.
Photo: Mark J. Rebilas for USA TODAY Sports
The fact that the UFC has to do that to save the year proves that they are putting too much emphasis on one fighter, one star, who, despite being perhaps the most electric personality in the history of MMA, may or may not even defend one of the two titles he’s won in the octagon. The hangover of his gamble of a boxing match with Mayweather makes that apparent, and even though they made a ton of money in the process, it was incredibly short-sighted in that the cupboard is bare in their own octagon without McGregor, who says he’s a free agent.
UFC 215 was a card with two title fights on it, title fights featuring two of the most talented and recently dominant champions in MMA who literally represented the evolution of the sport. It was never billed or built as such, and with McGregor’s boxing match having sucked the wind out of anything else combat sports-related for the time being, the UFC is looking like they need “The Notorious” a lot more than he needs them.
They’re going to have to pay him whatever he wants when he does return if they ever want to recoup their initial investment, but they’re also going to need to depend on some of their other fighters, too. A starting point would be to not trash them online, because they can use every champion they can get right now.
Now that fight fans can get back to the real world of 
