UFC flyweight Ray Borg is currently dealing with his former gym and management team who's continuing its lawsuit against him.
Wild Bunch Management, run by Fit NHB team’s Tom Vaughn, filed a lawsuit back in February against Borg for fraud, breach of contract and stolen trade secrets, among other things, MMA Fighting confirmed via a public records request with Bernalillo County (N.M.) Second Judicial District Court. The attorney of Ray Borg, Jason Bowles, told MMA Fighting that the suit was just recently re-filed and he is planning a response.
Wild Bunch claims that it had a three-year contract with Borg for management, promotion, training and arranging for fights, per the complaint written by attorney Ryan B. Baughman. In exchange, Borg promised to pay Wild Bunch 20 percent of his in-cage earnings totaling $9,999 or less and 10 percent of any bonuses exceeding $10,000.
In the complaint, Baughman writes that Wild Bunch negotiated Borg’s five-fight contract with the UFC and Borg “unexpectedly severed ties” with the management team and gym following the first fight on that deal “without notice.” Wild Bunch is asking for a percentage of the four fights on that contract that Borg did not pay them for, claiming fraud and breach of contract. Borg left Fit NHB in 2016 for crosstown rival gym JacksonWink MMA in Albuquerque. Wild Bunch alleges that Borg violated a non-compete clause in his contract that he would not instruct people in martial arts within a 50-mile radius of Fit NHB until one year after the termination of his contract.
“The material breaches of the Fighter Management Agreement and Covenant Not to Compete have subjected Wild Bunch Managament LLC immediate and irreparable injury and financial harm,” Baughman writes in the complaint.
Wild Bunch is seeking “actual, incidental, consequential and punitive damages” from Borg, plus double the damages for revealing the company’s trade secrets and attorney costs.
Bowles told MMA Fighting that he sees a “reach” in Wild Bunch’s claims.
“I think what’s going on is Ray switched gyms, he wanted to be successful,” Bowles said. “He did become successful. And they don’t have a claim to that income, based on his trying to better himself. I know they want the money. That gym doesn’t do as well as JacksonWink, so they’re gonna want to take from fighters that do pretty well.”
“I don’t see a claim,” Bowles said. “I see a reach with this one. … I don’t think there was a solid contract, like they’re saying. But we’re gonna have to vet that out.”