It has not been a good 24 hours as far as weigh-ins are concerned, for any promotion.
A day after DeAnna Bennett missed weight for her Bellator 294 title fight with Liz Carmouche (that fight, at least, is still on, though Bennett won’t be eligible to win gold), two fighters were lost from Bellator 295, and one more from UFC Vegas 71.
It’s the Bellator match-ups that particularly sting, however. Especially the main card bout between Ray Borg and Kyoji Horiguchi, announced as axed ahead of Friday’s weigh-ins. Borg’s weight struggles in his return to the flyweight division were reportedly to blame, and shortly after the news broke, management firm Dominance MMA announced that they had parted ways with the fighter.
The blows didn’t stop there. Keoni Diggs, whose weight management issues led to his featherweight fight with Weber Almeida falling through, has been cut by the promotion — as has Borg. Neither fighter ever made it to the scale.
Bellator CEO Scott Coker broke the news to MMA Junkie later in the day on Friday, with Bellator PR later confirming the development.
“I think Ray and Keoni both had catchweights to begin with and we started with one contract price, and then they negotiated a catchweight because they couldn’t make weight,” Coker revealed MMA Junkie after Friday’s ceremonial weigh-ins for Bellator 295 in Honolulu.
Despite the catchweight claim, Borg’s fight with Horiguchi was, as of Wednesday, being advertised by the promotion as a flyweight bout, with 125 listed as the pair’s weight during media day. Coker, who clearly took issue with both fighters completely missing weight, added that “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 repeatedly struggled with his weight during his UFC run; since parting ways with the promotion, he had been competing as a bantamweight, winning three straight fights.
Bellator 294 takes place Friday night in Honolulu, followed by Bellator 295 Saturday. Both cards go down at the Neal S. Blaisdell Arena in Honolulu, Hawaii.
