Preview: UFC Fight Night 167 ‘Anderson vs. Blachowicz 2’

Flyweights

NR | Ray Borg (12-4) vs. #7 FLW | Rogerio Bontorin (16-1)

ODDS: Borg (-145), Bontorin (+125)

Borg is back at flyweight where he belongs. The Albuquerque, New Mexico, native became one of Demetrious Johnson’s many victims back in October 2017 and then went on a run of misfortune that may be unmatched in UFC history. Over the next year and a half, Borg had six different opponents drop out on five scheduled fight dates, and things were not going any better outside the cage. Borg’s newborn son required multiple brain surgeries during that time; he dealt with injuries of his own; and he was also hurt in the infamous Conor McGregor bus attack. Borg finally made his return, only to find that the UFC was essentially cutting his division and that his approach did not work quite as well at 135 pounds. The centerpiece of Borg’s success has always been his scrambling submission game, but against larger competition, he found himself unable to get things to the ground with any sort of consistency. Casey Kenney neutralized him, and even his win over Gabriel Silva was much tougher than it needed to be. Now that Borg is back at 125 pounds, Bontorin provides an interesting test.

Bontorin authored one of the biggest upsets of 2019 in his UFC debut, taking a decision over Magomed Bibulatov. It may have been a slight gift, but Bontorin impressed with his own aggressive grappling attack and can cause some damage on the feet. Bontorin followed that with a win over Raulian Paiva that was over before it really started due to a cut stoppage.

This is an excellent bar to see how much of Borg’s recent struggles were due to his own issues or his opponents’ size, as Bontorin should be able to hold his own in the strongest part of the former title challenger’s game. Based off recent performances, Bontorin is probably the smarter pick, but the hope is that Borg looks much more like his old self back in his natural weight class. The pick is Borg via decision.

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