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What's the story?
Flyweight fighter Ray Borg will be unable to compete against Joseph Benavidez at UFC Denver.
It’s been over a year since Ray Borg has been in the octagon. The former UFC Flyweight contender’s last bout was against then champion Demetrious Johnson for the 125-pound title at UFC 216, which he ultimately lost.
In case you didn't know...
Since then, there’s been several setbacks that have prevented Borg from returning to the octagon, with the most notable being the Barclays Center attack before UFC 223.
Borg was supposed to face Brandon Moreno at the event; however, Conor McGregor and his crew stormed the van looking for current UFC Lightweight champion Khabib Nurmagomedov – McGregor threw a bus dolly into the window of the van that injured several fighters, one of them being Borg, who was forced to withdraw from the event due to having shards of glass in his eye.
Borg then had to deal with his newborn son battling brain cancer, which caused him to withdraw from his scheduled rematch from Brandon Moreno.
Currently Ranked at #3 in the division, Joseph Benavidez's last fight was against Sergio Pettis back at UFC 225, a bout that he ultimately lost via split decision. Benavidez's last win was against Henry Cejudo at the Ultimate Fighter finale in 2016.
The heart of the matter
The flyweight fighter was set to take on Joseph Benavidez at UFC Denver, but Borg is no longer able to compete due to medical issues.
MMA Fighting confirmed the news after the initial report from MMA Junkie.
What's next?
At the moment, UFC officials do not plan to replace Borg thus Benavidez will be dropped from the Denver card, that’s headlined with Chan Sung Jung vs. Yair Rodriguez. As for Ray Borg, his medical status remains unclear and there’s currently no timetable for when he could return to the octagon.
