Jay Jay Wilson and Adam Borics will both be fighting at Bellator 276 on Saturday — but it won’t be against each other.
Wilson (8-0) and Borics (17-1) were matched up for a key featherweight fight last year. At weigh-ins for August’s Bellator 265, however, Wilson missed weight by over four pounds. It was another in a string of weight struggles for the New Zealand native, who moves to lightweight this weekend — but he was ready to fight on.
As for Borics? According to Wilson, he tanked the match-up by asking for a “ridiculous” amount to take the fight.
Saying that Borics “didn’t want to take the fight,” Wilson revealed during Thursday’s Bellator 276 media day that “He offered me some ridiculous deal to take the fight. He wanted my purse and my win bonus, I was like ‘man, I’m not going to fight for free.’ Obviously, he put up some ridiculous offer, knowing that I was going to refuse it so he didn’t have to fight.”
Borics gave his own response when asked about the situation by Cageside Press on Thursday.
“I mean, that was not my job,” he said in regards to the negotiation to keep the fight alive last August. “My manager, or somebody else, but we didn’t ask [for] his whole money. So I don’t know what he’s talking about.”
Hungary’s Borics then volunteered his thoughts on Wilson, and it’s clear he doesn’t hold the undefeated fighter in high regard.
“I’m always nice with everybody, with every opponent, but I don’t like him,” Borics explained. “Because if you miss weight, like two, three pounds it’s okay, but not like five or six. It’s disrespectful. Especially if you miss weight like three times. How could [it] be you fight for a title eliminator, when he missed weight last two times? I think it’s just disrespectful, and he didn’t deserve that shot.”
Borics also clarified that had Jay Jay Wilson’s team reached out in advance, he would have accepted the fight. “I would face against him in 150. If they call me like ‘hey we’re not going to make weight, let’s do a catchweight 150,’ I would say ‘of course, let’s go.’ 150 is my weight class, I would love to fight at 150.”
Now, both fighters will move forward in different weight classes. Borics once again has a title eliminator booked at Bellator 276, against Mads Burnell, in the main event. Earlier in the night, Wilson makes his lightweight debut for Bellator opposite Gadzhi Rabadanov.
