Zack “The Dragon” Borrego Welcomes Short Notice Opportunity at Fury FC 85
Since its inception in 2013, Fury Fighting Championship has made San Antonio one of its top destinations when traveling outside its home base of Houston, TX, putting on over a dozen shows and entertaining thousands of local MMA fans in the process. And in recent years, Alamo City native Zack Borrego has relished his role as hometown favorite in six combined amateur and professional bouts for the organization.
But on January 21st in Houston, TX, Borrego can expect a very different reception as he looks to upset the local favorite, Cameron Presher in a 195lb. catchweight bout at Fury FC 85. And after a bout planned for November of 2023 in San Antonio failed to materialize, Borrego sees a silver lining in taking this short notice opportunity against the Houston local.
“I'm kind of glad that this is happening the way it is, because it almost feels like I get to play like the villain, you know, like I'm going into his hometown. I know what the pressure of fighting in front of all of your people feels like. I've felt that so much. And as much as I love it… I feel like there's not really any pressure with this fight.”
In fact, the seven-fight veteran feels the pressure rests entirely on his opponent who secured an impressive 2nd round TKO victory in his professional debut in August.
“For me, I'm fighting a guy on paper who's 1-0 so I know that there's…a big threat behind that. But I think for him, there's a lot to gain from this fight and he’s got to not only get a win, but get a win against the guy who's experienced as I am in… his hometown.”
From deep within San Antonio’s Southside, The Dojo Karate Academy has helped propel Borrego and countless other students on their respective martial arts journey since it first opened its doors in 1997.
While his opponent is looking to build on the momentum of an exciting win, Borrego notes that this too can produce a very different sort of pressure. Despite an unsuccessful bid on Dana White’s Contender Series in August of 2022, Borrego seemed to be back to winning form when he secured a thrilling TKO victory over Tyler Smith at Fury FC 73.
However, expectations of what a victory could do for his career, Borrego says, left the dynamic striker known for exciting first-round finishes suddenly unable to pull the trigger in the fight against Jackson Wink standout, Lajaun Davis.
“Everyone was kind of talking about, ‘man, one more win and we're back in.’ And so it kind of humbled me a little bit because I was, in a way looking past him... I was thinking, ‘after this I’m going to be back in the Contender Series… and that kind of weighed me down in that fight.”
Then, a few short months later, Borrego would suffer another grueling decision loss, this time to Adam Vigil at Fury FC 81.
For the first time in his career, the life-long martial artist would find himself in a two-fight losing skid. Once again, Borrego notes, focusing on regaining lost ground rather than the fight at hand proved to be more of a distraction than motivation.
“People are telling me, ‘you get past [Vigil], and we're back in contender series’… And I feel like as soon as that fight happened, I was like, ‘why was I fighting so conservative?’… I hurt him a few times, there [were] a few times that I could have stepped on the gas a little bit but I was just trying not to make the wrong move, and that's not really like how you should fight. You should fight trying to finish the fight.”
Looking ahead at Fury FC 85, the owner of three first-round TKO victories vows to return to his finishing ways.
“That's how I've always fought and that's what I'm excited for, I feel like there's no pressure for this one. I'm not worried about what's happening after this. I'm just worried about getting the job done and moving on.”
Tune in to UFC Fight Pass on Sunday, January 21st to watch Zack “The Dragon” Borrego take on Houston’s own Cameron Presher as part of Fury FC 85’s stacked main card.
For more information regarding Fury FC 85 or other events, visit FuryFC.TV.
