Borg apologizes for withdrawal
Flyweight also parts ways with nutritionist
Albuquerque MMA fighter Ray Borg, in his first statement since his withdrawal from a UFC flyweight title fight scheduled for Saturday, apologized to the public and to his erstwhile opponent, champion Demetrious Johnson.
And he fired nutritionist.
Thursday night, mmafighting.com reported that the Johnson-Borg fight had been canceled because of illness on Borg’s part. Later, the UFC confirmed the report.
“Due to a viral illness to UFC flyweight contender Ray Borg, (Saturday’s) main event bout against champion Demetrious Johnson has been cancelled,” the UFC said in a statement. “Borg was deemed unfit to compete by the UFC medical team.”
MMA Fighting’s Ariel Helwani quoted Borg’s nutritionist, Dr. Michelle Ingels of Perfecting Athletes, as saying Borg’s withdrawal was not related to difficulties in cutting to the 125-pound flyweight limit. Borg twice has come in overweight for fights but said last week that making weight for Saturday’s fight would not be a problem.
Friday, Borg said in a statement that he was no longer working with Perfecting Athletes or with his Ingels, who, he said, “was not authorized to speak on my behalf.”
As recently as May, Borg had praised Perfecting Athletes for the company’s help in improving his weightcutting methods. Perfecting Athletes is designed specifically to help athletes cut weight safely.
In the statement, Borg did not provide details regarding the nature of his illness.
This was the second time Borg has had a fight scrapped because he fell ill. A scheduled fight against Ian McCall was canceled in September 2013 and was never rescheduled.
The Johnson-Borg fight was to have been Johnson’s 11th title defense. With a victory, he would have surpassed Anderson Silva’s record of 10 straight successful title defenses.
Saturday’s card, UFC 215, was to take place as scheduled in Edmonton, Alberta. A women’s bantamweight title fight between champion Amanda Nunes and challenger Valentina Shevchenko was elevated to main-event status. Nunes successfully defended her title with a victory by split decision.
In his statement, Borg said, “I want to say I’m sorry to the fans and to Demetrious Johnson for being unable to fight. I want to say thank you to Dr. (Jeff) Davidson and to Jeff Novitsky for looking out for my health and best interests.”
On Saturday, Perfecting Athletes released a statement: “Perfecting Athletes has a long history of exceptional care and a reputation for putting our clients’ health and safety above all else. We honor and respect our clients’ privacy and have never commented about them without prior consent. We have the utmost respect for Ray as an athlete and wish him the very best.” Jackson-Wink welterweight Donald “Cowboy” Cerrone (32-9) will headline a UFC card in Gdansk, Poland, against Darren Till (15-0-1) on Oct. 21, the UFC announced, confirming multiple reports online.
Earlier, it was reported online that Jodie Esquibel (6-2), Cerrone’s J-W teammate, will make her UFC debut on the Gdansk card against Polish veteran Karolina Kowalkiewicz (10-2).
Esquibel has confirmed the matchup on social media, but the UFC has made no announcement.