UFC 295 – New Blood!

Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) brought out some big names for its penultimate pay-per-view (PPV) of 2023, leaving room for just one Octagon newcomer. On this edition of “New Blood” — the series where organizations just love to make finding footage difficult — we look at an ultra-exciting Flyweight knockout artist out of Peru who will make his official promotional debut on UFC 295’s “Prelims” undercard.

Kevin “El Gallo Negro” Borjas

Weight Class: Flyweight
Age: 25
Record: 9-1 (8 KO)
Notable Victories: Victor Dias, Tiao Calixto

Fighting out of Pitbull Martial Arts Center alongside other Peruvian standouts like Jesus Pinedo, Enrique Barzola and Claudio Puelles, Borjas capped off his eight-fight stint in Inka FC by claiming its Flyweight title in Sept. 2022. He took his talents to Contender Series one year later, ultimately out-slugging late replacement, Victor Dias, to claim a contract.

Before we start, I’d like to call out Inka FC. It has shared an abundance of footage from Inka FC 36, 37 and 38, but Borjas’ fights from 34 and 35 are nowhere to be found. Much as I’d love to analyze last year’s fourth round finish of Tiao Calixto, all I’ve got from the last three years are the Dias bout and highlights of his win over Joseph Vieira three fights back.

Nevertheless, vicious boxing is Borjas’ claim to fame.

While most of his knockouts came over limited opposition, there’s no denying the speed and power he packs in those hands. Fighting behind a busy jab, he usually limits himself to some variant of the one-two combination, often with a nasty hook to the head or body appended to it. He’s equally happy to lead with that liver shot, though, and possesses a quick check hook to deter aggressive opponents.

He’s shown a fondness for more esoteric techniques like flying knees, rolling thunders, and wheel kicks in the past, but I feel the more measured approach he took against Dias worked to his benefit.

His key issue — as with so many other gifted punchers — is how much he puts behind those shots. There’s so much spite in them that he’s prone to planting his feet to maximize torque. He’ll lean way in when throwing the right hand, often bringing the jab back too low and leaving himself open to return fire. It’s even more apparent with his left hook, as he’ll occasionally square up with his chin in the air.

Dias took advantage of this habit to exploit Borjas’ key weakness: his takedown defense. Borjas has a nice sprawl and is quick with underhooks if he sees a shot coming, he’s highly vulnerable if he’s caught unawares. Dias racked up long minutes of control time, largely with Borjas stuck on his butt at the base of the fence.

To Borjas’ credit, his strong whizzer never allowed Dias to take a truly dominant position or deal significant damage. He also hit a couple of nice sweeps, so he clearly knows what he’s doing off of his back. Still, he spent way too long on the ground between those moments of success thanks to Dias outmaneuvering him in longer scrambles and Borjas failing to break his grip.

Borjas is an extremely promising young man. His striking looks sufficiently nasty to keep him afloat in UFC’s Flyweight division, though he’s a year or two of seasoning away from being a contender. He’s in for a fun UFC debut against fellow striker, Josh Van, whom he was originally slated to meet on Contender Series before Van joined UFC on short notice. Though I favor Van based on his tighter boxing technique, he’s hittable enough that Borjas has a shot at the upset.

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Remember that MMAmania.com will deliver LIVE round-by-round, blow-by-blow coverage of the entire UFC 295 fight card right here, starting with the early ESPN+ “Prelims” matches online, which are scheduled to begin at 6 p.m. ET, before the pay-per-view (PPV) main card start time at 10 p.m. ET (also on ESPN+).

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