UFC Fight Night 167: Anderson vs. Blachowicz II - Predictions and Picks

#5 Rogerio Bontorin vs. Ray Borg

Rogerio Bontorin could be a man to watch at 125lbs

I’ll be honest and say I’m surprised to see Borg back down at 125 lbs; sure, he didn’t look great in his Bantamweight debut, a loss to Casey Kenney, but he did defeat Gabriel Silva in his last outing at 135 lbs and he appeared to struggle massively to hit the Flyweight limit. To see him struggle again here wouldn’t be a surprise, to be honest.

At his best, he’s a dangerous fighter in all areas; ‘The Taxmexican Devil’ is primarily a grappler, although he’s a more-than-willing striker too. But it’s his wrestling and ground-and-pound with which he made his name, beating up the likes of Louis Smolka and Chris Kelades en route to his failed 2017 Flyweight title shot.

Bontorin is more of an unknown quantity; the Brazilian is 2-0 in the UFC and is an impressive 16-1 overall, but the majority of his pre UFC opponents weren’t all that great. His UFC debut win over Magomed Bibulatov on the other hand was massively impressive, as he was able to outwork a highly touted opponent in all areas. And his second fight was exciting while it lasted – Bontorin opened a nasty cut over Raulian Paiva’s eye that forced a stoppage.

This then could well be a contender for ‘Fight of the Night’. How it goes should come down to how well Bontorin can deal with the tight grappling game of Borg. If he’s able to stuff Borg’s takedowns and perhaps even look to outgrapple him, then he can definitely win this fight. If he can’t, then ‘The Tazmexican Devil’ should have enough experience to grind a victory out.

I’m going for the less experienced fighter here, though. I worry for Borg trying to make it back to 125 lbs with a full gas tank, and if he runs out of steam then Bontorin is the type of fighter who could easily push the pace and force him to wilt down the stretch. Add in his solid display against a grappler like Bibulatov, and we could be looking at a potentially dangerous contender in this division going forward.

The Pick: Bontorin via unanimous decision