Ray Borg is eager to face Kyoji Horiguchi at Bellator 295 but is confused about the decision to make the fight a flyweight bout.
Ray Borg was thrilled to join the Bellator MMA roster but was admittedly confused when he received his first official fight offer. The name on his bout agreement was ex-Bellator champion Kyoji Horiguchi, which was exactly the kind of opponent Borg wanted. However, he noticed that the fight was at 125 pounds. Borg spent a large part of his career competing at flyweight, but he also experienced some truly disastrous weight cuts that eventually played a role in his UFC release. So when he discovered Bellator wanted him to fight again at flyweight, he was definitely surprised but never hesitated for a second when it came time to sign the contract.
“I was really confused on why they offered the fight at flyweight, to be honest,” Borg shared. “I still don’t even know why, to be truly honest. It kind of doesn’t make sense to me. I know Bellator’s done flyweight fights when they have more local guys on the card. Kyoji’s fought at bantamweight, he was a bantamweight champion, so it didn’t make sense to me. Still kind of doesn’t. I just said yes to the fight. I was excited for the opportunity to get signed with Bellator and to fight with Kyoji. It’s a fight a long time in the making, and it’s coming at the perfect time in my career and in my life. It is what it is. I just take the fights they give me.”
Borg is well aware that all eyes will be on him when he sets foot on the scale for his debut at Bellator 295. But he’s grown to expect that because of the attention he attracted by failing to make weight so many times in the past. In previous situations, Borg would lash out at his detractors, which only led to further backlash when he didn’t make weight. These days, he’s learned to accept his mistakes and take full ownership of those weight misses.
Since leaving the UFC, Borg has gone 3-0 with impressive wins over UFC and Bellator veterans such as Cody Gibson and Ricky Bandejas. Borg knows there’s never really been a question about his ability to compete with the best fighters in the world. His UFC release had nothing to do with wins and losses. That said, he believes leaving the UFC facilitated the wholesale changes he’s made in his life. The only disappointment surrounding his return to flyweight is that Borg feels his upcoming fight against Horiguchi could have had higher stakes. “I was like, this could definitely be a title fight,” Borg said. “I actually had a lot of people assuming it was a title fight, asking me if it was a title fight, and I said it was just a regular old three-round fist-fight. We’ll see what happens in the future. But right now, I’m only looking at getting my hands on Kyoji.”