Borg wants a shot at flyweight title, but he may have to wait
Fighter also sued by his former coach
Albuquerque MMA fighter Ray Borg has made more national news this week without fighting than he ever has for fighting.
Whether this week’s news is good or bad depends on future developments.
Borg, a Jackson-Wink flyweight with an 11-2 record (5-2 in UFC competition), is next in line for a title shot vs. UFC champion Demetrious Johnson. Or is he? Former UFC bantamweight champion T.J. Dillashaw was to fight current champion Cody Garbrandt on July 8 for the title, but Garbrandt withdrew with an injury. Dillashaw then began campaigning for a title shot against Johnson at 125 pounds in August on a yet-to-be-scheduled card in Seattle.
“Would you rather see (Johnson) headline Seattle and fight Me or (Borg)?” Dillashaw posted on Twitter.
Borg, understandably, was not pleased.
“Lol of course fans are going to choose you, look at how much more established you are than me,” Borg tweeted in reply.
“Nothing but respect for you,” Dillashaw tweeted back. No hard feelings, right?
Fortunately for Borg, the fans don’t have the final say. Neither does Johnson — that’s UFC President Dana White’s call. But if “Mighty Mouse” has his way, he’ll fight Borg next and not Dillashaw.
“Just so the world know (sic) I haven’t agreed to anything still waiting on my contract to fight (Borg) not (Dillashaw).”
If Dillashaw really wants a title shot at flyweight, Johnson tweeted, “he can come to flyweight and get a win and then get his turn.”
Even so, Borg seems almost fatalistic regarding that title shot. If he’s shunted aside in favor of Dillashaw, he tweeted, he’d welcome a fight against Brazil’s Wilson Reis (22-7), who lost to Johnson by third-round submission (arm bar) in April.
“Now I would love to fight DJ but you (critics) need to understand I don’t give one (expletive) who I end up fighting,” he wrote.
“Just put someone in front of me and that’s all I care about I would prefer DJ but if not I am fine with Wilson because that is literally the only fight that makes sense.”
SEE YOU IN COURT: The lawsuit against Borg filed in December by his former coach, Albuquerque’s Tom Vaughn, also got some coverage this week.
The Journal broke the story, reporting on Dec. 23 that Vaughn’s company, Wildbunch Management LLC, had filed a breach-of-contract suit. Borg had left Albuquerque’s FITNHB gym, run by Vaughn and his wife, Arlene Sanchez Vaughn, sometime last summer to train at Jackson-Wink.
Borg initially declined comment to the Journal. Later, he discussed with the Journal his reasons for leaving FIT-NHB for Jackson-Wink — a jump start after a February 2016 loss to Justin Scoggins, more and better sparring — but would not comment on the lawsuit itself.
This week, he told foxnews. com that he did not dispute a contract with Vaughn/Wildbunch existed. But, he said, “I thought I was doing it properly because Tom had me under a management contract so he was not only my manager but he was also my coach. I signed that contract when I was 20 years old. I had no idea what I was getting myself into. I trusted in them.
“He’s (been) coming after me ever since I was scheduled to fight Ian McCall (last September ).”
The McCall fight was canceled due to an illness suffered by Borg, but Borg still received a reduced payment.
In the lawsuit, Vaughn contends Wildbunch is owed 20 percent of Borg’s MMA earnings through August 2019.
No trial date is set, according to New Mexico court records. Earlier this month, the court granted Vaughn/Wildbunch’s requests for a continuance and to amend the original complaint.
UPCOMING: Harvey Park, the fighting sheriff’s deputy from Curry County, is scheduled to fight the main event of Jackson’s Series XXII on June 10 at Buffalo Thunder Resort & Casino in Pojoaque.
Park (7-1) is scheduled to face Brazil’s Roberto Amorim (7-2) at the 155-pound lightweight limit.
Those who attended the Jackson-Wink Fight Night card at Isleta Resort & Casino in February will remember (and perhaps wince while remembering) the vicious leg kicks he landed that night in defeating Albuquerque’s Brandon Trujillo by second-round TKO.