Tomorrow night the landscape of the Flyweight division within the State of New Mexico will be re-shaped when FIT NHB’s Ray Borg takes on Jackson-Winkeljohn product Nick Urso. Southwest Fight News has dedicated a lot of time to the match-up and has heralded the bout as the biggest fight in New Mexico’s history between two locally trained fighters. Friday night’s event will feature two fighters atop the list of unsigned fighters currently training in New Mexico not to mention that the fighters represent the premier talents from their respective gyms.
The 20-year old Ray Borg is well-known by locals as a true embodiment of the new hybrid style of MMA fighting that encompasses all fighting disciplines. Borg has very solid striking talents that are continuing to improve under the tutelage of Thai Boxing specialist and striking savant Arlene Vaughn. The strength of Borg however is in the fighter’s explosive wrestling and technically crafty grappling. All a fan needs to do is head over to YouTube and type in “Ray Borg Grappling” to find out in 5-minutes how good Borg is at Jiu Jitsu.
Borg started training in Tucumcari, New Mexico where he would train alongside the former King of the Cage Champion Abel Cullum and his father who train by the Cullum Fighting Systems style. Many fight fans will remember Cullum for his exciting fighting style while fighting for King of the Cage promotion and Cullum is also well-known for his adventures overseas where he fought for the Dream promotion.
While Cullum has been on a long hiatus from fighting, Borg was able to bring in his former training partner in for this camp. The arrival of Cullum was a reminder of where Borg’s career started and also of how similarly talented Cullum and Borg are in their grappling arsenals. In anticipation of Borg’s biggest fight to date, Abel Cullum offered us this about “The Taz-Mexican Devil”:
“I started training with Ray when he was 13 years old, from the day he set foot on our mats he was obsessed with improving. I’m sure it’s a lot to do with not liking being beat up by the guys in the gym, but apart from that Ray has always strived to be the best at everything he does. He’s been like my little brother, and with little brothers everything is a competition. With his competitiveness and resiliency he’s on the right path to the top of his division! Legacy FC signed a great fighter from a great gym and big things are to come for the Taz-Mexican Devil!” – Abel Cullum
On the other side of the cage. Nick Urso is quite the dynamic fighter himself. Coming out of the world-renowned gym, Urso trains with world-class teammates under the guidance and coaching of some of the best coaches in all of MMA. The training has complimented Urso’s natural talent and athleticism, and in a short amount of time, the Floridian has shot up the ranks from successful regional fighter to outright top prospect in his weight class.
There is much to say of the talents of Urso as not only is the Flyweight fighter an accomplished striker who has knockout power in both hands, but he is also a very technically sound wrestler and gifted grappler. Urso has shown the ability to win fights via all methods, finishing opponents with strikes, submissions, and by judge’s decision; an easy way to describe Urso’s in-cage talents is to label him as a very thorough, well-rounded martial artist.
With so many top training partners in the gym everyday, Urso is wealthy in his ability to work with some of the best guys in the world. John Dodson has blazing speed, Damacio Page has power; one of Urso’s teammates Hunter Tucker, a fellow top prospect who fights under the Legacy banner, shared his thoughts on Urso:
“It has been great to train with “The Honeybadger” the last few years. He is ridiculously strong and explosive for a 125er and has elite level skills to match. He is also extremely determined. I believe the future looks very bright for him and expect to see him in the UFC sooner rather than later.” Hunter Tucker
If we can draw a similarity between Borg and Urso it is that both fighters head into this bout with a lot of support. There teammates and coaches speak highly of them and it would be hard pressed to find two-harder working fighters matched up with one another. Stay tuned for more Legacy FC coverage and analysis and as always we encourage the fight fans to get out there to support all of our hard-working locals. Hold My Ticket (www.holdmyticket.com) didn’t have much seating available as of last night, so we urge all of you late-ticket buyers to get your tickets as soon as possible before the event sells out!
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