UFC Fight Night 172: Eye vs. Calvillo - Predictions and Picks

#3 Bantamweight: Ray Borg vs. Merab Dvalishvili

Merab Dvalishvili should hold a wrestling advantage over Ray Borg

This clash of Bantamweights could prove to be an interesting – and exciting – one if we go by both men’s recent fights. Neither Borg nor Dvalishvili have too many finishes to their name – particularly in the UFC – but their scramble-heavy styles and hard pace should mean a lot of action throughout their showdown this weekend.

A former Flyweight who simply couldn’t continue to make the 125lbs limit, Borg has been a staple of the UFC since 2014. ‘The Taz-Mexican Devil’ largely relies on his wrestling to get by. His hyper-active style and explosive speed tends to allow him to close the distance on an opponent quickly, where he then looks to take them down and either submit them or beat them up.

Borg isn’t the most natural striker, but he’s not incompetent on the feet either. He can be outstruck, as his recent fight with Ricky Simon showed, but his biggest weakness appears to be against larger grapplers who can out-scramble him. Essentially, all 5 of his UFC losses have come in this manner – and it seems like at 135lbs, that’s more likely to be the case.

So can Dvalishvili avoid Borg’s takedowns and outwork him on the feet while also managing to out-scramble him should it come to that? There’s every chance that he can. A native of Georgia, ‘The Machine’ fights out of the Serra/Longo camp in New York, and while he’s shown a penchant for wild striking at times, the majority of his success comes from his takedowns.

In his fights against Casey Kenney – who, coincidentally, beat Borg when they fought – and Brad Katona, Dvalishvili had no issues in taking his opponents down at all. Kenney found himself ragdolled to the mat on 12 occasions, in fact. All of this should be highly worrying for Borg.

In this fight he’ll not only be faced with a bigger, stronger fighter, but also a man capable of throwing other 135lbers around like they’re nothing. Even if Borg decides to make this a striking battle, he’ll likely still be in trouble. He’s 2” shorter than the Georgian, and has a 5” reach disadvantage too.

You can’t count a veteran as wily as Borg out of any fight, and Dvalishvili is wild enough to leave some gaps, but while he found himself in trouble against Simon in his own UFC debut due to that penchant, he’s since tightened the holes in his game greatly.

Overall I just think this fight looks too much like Borg’s other losses to bode well for ‘The Taz-Mexican Devil’. I can’t see how he stops Dvalishvili’s takedown and once they’re on the ground, ‘The Machine’ is good enough to control Borg and beat him up for a decision.

The Pick: Dvalishvili via unanimous decision