A pair of former UFC title challengers will face off at Bellator 295 in Hawaii on April 22.
Ray Borg (16-5) will make his promotional debut at the event, where he’ll take on Japan’s Kyoji Horiguchi (31-5). News of the match-up, which will be contested at flyweight, was first reported by MMA Mania (ESPN had previously reported that Horiguchi was a “potential” opponent for Borg when he signed on with the organization).
Cageside Press confirmed the booking with a source familiar with the situation on Wednesday.
The big news here is two-fold. One, Borg, whose bad luck in and out of the cage is hopefully behind him, will debut on a big platform in a high-profile match-up. Two, it may signal the addition of a men’s flyweight division in Bellator — something Horiguchi previously told Cageside Press he was hoping to see.
Borg has won three straight fights since parting ways with the UFC in 2020. That includes a win over Canadian veteran Jesse Arnett under the UAE Warriors banner, plus victories against Ricky Bandejas and Cody Gibson in Eagle FC.
Horiguchi has won his last two fights, and continues to split his time between Bellator MMA and RIZIN. Case in point, Horiguchi went 2-1 in 2022, losing to Patchy Mix in the Bellator bantamweight grand prix, then picking up a win over Yuto Hokamura at RIZIN 38. He closed out the year by defeating Hiromasa Ougikubo at the Bellator MMA vs. RIZIN cross-promotional event.
Bellator 295 takes place on April 22, 2023 at the Neal S. Blaisdell Arena in Honolulu, Hawaii. The following match-ups have been reported for the event:
- Raufeon Stots (ic) vs. Patchy Mix — for the Bellator MMA interim bantamweight championship / bantamweight grand prix final
- Kyoji Horiguchi vs. Ray Borg
- Ilima-Lei Macfarlane vs. Kana Watanabe
- Davion Franklin vs. Kasim Aras
- Yancy Medeiros vs. Charlie Leary
- Bobby King vs. Aalon Cruz
- Keoni Diggs vs. Weber Almeida
- Kai Kamaka III vs. Adli Edwards
- Sumiko Inaba vs. Veta Arteaga
