While no one’s debating his toughness (11-2-0), could Ray Borg, be the latest casualty of near-impossible weight cutting? Friday morning, the UFC announced the much anticipated, championship bout between the “Tazmexican Devil,” and prolific Demetrius Johnson was indeed canceled, the supposed culprit being—viral illness.
Coincidentally, Borg, has had his fair share of weight-cutting issues; most notably missing weight in his fight with Louis Smolka by nearly five pounds (129.5), and being summerly fined 30% of his total purse when Smolka agreed to a catchweight bout.
Further stoking curiosities, Friday also saw Borg’s nutritionist, Dr. Michelle Ingles release a statement claiming the illness “wasn’t weight related.” To which Borg issued his own,
“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.”
With a slew of fighters succumbing to such illnesses so close to fight night, Amanda Nuñes (now headlining the weekend’s event) included, are we seeing both a physical and economic urge to end drastic weight cutting? As the UFC and its ranks of fighters grows larger and larger, is it not prudent to examine a restructuring of the weight classes?
Or, will we continue to see what we have so far, endless more canceled matches hours from precious main events and fighters struggling to fulfill the physical mandates of their contracts, wether in the best interest of their health or not?
