Ray Borg has announced his retirement from mixed martial arts at age 29 following a botched weight cut that led to his release from Bellator.
Ray Borg, a one-time UFC title challenger, has decided to retire from mixed martial arts. The 29-year-old announced his retirement on Friday following the botched weight cut that led to his release from Bellator. “Things did not go as planned this weekend and I will not be fighting,” Borg wrote on Facebook. “I made a promise to myself that if another incident like this ever happened I would retire. So going forward I am officially out of the game and hanging it up.”
Borg continued, “I just want to formally apologize to those I have let down and thank those that have been by my side throughout these crazy years. I am on a different journey in life now and I appreciate and love you all for always being team Borg.” Borg was expected to make his Bellator debut in a flyweight bout against former Bellator champion Kyoji Horiguchi. However, the matchup was canceled on Friday due to Borg’s latest struggles on the scale. Borg was subsequently released from his Bellator contract and publicly dropped by his longtime management team Dominance MMA.
The New Mexico native is no stranger to weigh-in controversies. According to Tapology, Borg suffered at least 17 fight cancellations over the course of his 11-year MMA career, many of which were weight-related. Borg’s UFC career ended under similar circumstances in 2020 due to his struggles on the scale. Prior to his scheduled return to flyweight against Horiguchi at Bellator 285, Borg had won three consecutive bouts at bantamweight.
Borg, known as “The Tazmexican Devil,” exits MMA with notable wins over UFC and Bellator veterans Jussier Formiga, Louis Smolka, Rogerio Bontorin, and Ricky Bandejas. His best run came from 2014-17 when he won five out of six bouts to earn a shot at the UFC flyweight title against then-champion Demetrious Johnson, which he lost via a fifth-round flying armbar.