UPDATED Ray Borg, Keoni Diggs Released From Bellator Following Fight Cancelations

#Bellator295 update:

Kyoji Horiguchi vs. Ray Borg has been scrapped, Yancy Medeiros vs. Charlie Leary will now take place on the main card.

— Bellator Public Relations (@BellatorPR) April 21, 2023

Editor's note: The article has been updated at 5:10 p.m. ET on April 21 to add a statement from Borg's former management as well as a comment from Bellator head Scott Coker.

Scheduling Ray Borg for a flyweight fight did not work out for Bellator MMA.

The promotion broke the news on Friday prior to the weigh-in ceremony that the 125-pound main card tilt between Borg (16-5) and Kyoji Horiguchi (31-5) was no longer happening at Bellator 295. Shortly after this came to light, MMA Fighting revealed that a Bellator official informed them it was due to “weight management issues” for Borg. As the fighters were set to hit the scale, an additional fight was canceled, per MMA Junkie, with Keoni Diggs (10-2) vs. Weber Almeida (7-1) falling off the lineup. Bellator confirmed this second fight's removal as well.

After the conclusion of the ceremonial weigh-ins on Friday, Bellator head Scott Coker spoke to media about the doubleheader fight cards. According to MMA Junkie, Coker said that both Diggs and Borg have been released from their Bellator contracts.

"I think Ray and Keoni both had catchweights to begin with and we started with one contract price," Coker explained (as transcribed by MMA Junkie), "and then they negotiated a catchweight because they couldn't make weight. And then for them to miss weight completely...When it's time to fight, this is a professional fight league. This is not an amateur tournament. I think it's time to say goodbye to both of them, and we're going to move on and let them fight somewhere else, and good luck."

Borg had not competed in a fight scheduled at flyweight since he faced Rogerio Bontorin at UFC Fight Night 167 in February 2020. Ahead of that match, Borg exceeded the 126-pound cap by two pounds and received a 30% fine due to multiple weight misses in his UFC tenure. Overall, Borg hit the scales above the flyweight and bantamweight limits four times in total, with his most egregious miss 129.5 pounds, or 3.5 above the maximum, when facing Louis Smolka in 2016. Of note, Borg won all three of the UFC bouts he missed weight at flyweight. Borg’s career is littered with fight cancelations, ranging from illness, injury, personal issues or the occasional problem with his opponent.

Horiguchi was looking to get back to the Bellator cage for the first time in nearly one year, as he last lost under the Bellator banner to Patrick Mix for his bantamweight throne. A pair of wins in Rizin Fighting Federation against Yuto Hokamura and Hiromasa Ougikubo – the latter in his first flyweight appearance since 2017 – righted the ship for the Japanese fighter. Back in 2019, Horiguchi became the second fighter in the history of MMA to simultaneously hold titles in two separate major organizations, as he captured the inaugural Rizin bantamweight throne against Darrion Caldwell and turned around six months later to claim the Bellator bantamweight strap from Caldwell.

Following the cancelation of the match, Borg's management team, Dominance MMA, released a public statement cutting ties with the fighter. Dominance MMA wrote that because Borg "was not willing or able" to make weight, they are choosing to no longer represent him.

The statement read, "Effective immediately, Dominance MMA will no longer serve as representation for Ray Borg. We would like to apologize to Bellator MMA, American Top Team and Kyoji Horiguchi for the unprofessionalism displayed this week that has forced us to make this decision. All parties involved did their best to make this fight happen, including the late offer to book the matchup at 135 pounds, and we thank everyone involved for those efforts."

"Unfortunately, Mr. Borg was not willing or able to make that weight, resulting in unnecessary complications for all involved. Given the circumstances, as well as our own embarrassment, we can no longer in good faith represent our now former client but wish him the best in his future endeavors," it concluded.

Bellator 295, the second part of the promotion’s Hawaiian doubleheader, will go down at the Neil S. Blaisdell Center in Honolulu on April 22. The main attraction will see Raufeon Stots take on Patrick Mix for the interim 135-pound strap, and the two men have already successfully made weight. The co-headliner will see local favorite Ilima-Lei Macfarlane try to make one more championship run, and she faces Kana Watanabe. The other fights on the main billing include Aaron Pico vs. James Gonzalez at featherweight, and Yancy Medeiros comes to blows with Charlie Leary in a 165-pound catchweight affair.