EDMONTON, Alberta -- UFC flyweight champion Demetrious Johnson would like to see his record-breaking title defense against Ray Borg rescheduled to UFC 216 on Oct. 7 in Las Vegas.
If that date does not come together, the 31-year-old champion admits he's not sure when the fight will happen.
Johnson (26-2-1) was supposed to face Borg in the main event of UFC 215 on Saturday inside Rogers Place. Borg (11-2) was reportedly sick all week, however, and withdrew two days before the bout.
Looking to break Anderson Silva's all-time record of 10 consecutive UFC title defenses, Johnson told reporters Saturday he's hopeful the fight will be rebooked next month.
"Yeah, of course," said Johnson, when asked if he still wanted Borg as an opponent. "He's sick, it's just a little flu. That's an option they gave me and I said, 'Sounds fine.' At the end of the day, [fight cancellations] happen all the time.
"I've [postponed] a fight before. Now, if they call me and say Oct. 7th is not going to work, you need to push it longer -- I might just be done for the year. I'm not going to [extend] six or seven weeks. That's when injuries happen. Things accumulate."
Borg, 24, is young in his career but has a history of pulling out of fights. He withdrew from a fight against Ian McCall in September 2016 three days before the event, citing illness. He's also missed weight twice as a UFC flyweight.
Despite that, Johnson said he had no concerns regarding Borg as a future opponent.
"The most times when I get sick is when I'm in training camp, because my body is ran down," Johnson said. "It literally happens. I could say I never would have thought Ian McCall would pull out of a fight, but it's happened."
Currently, an interim lightweight championship fight between Tony Ferguson (22-3) and Kevin Lee (16-2) is scheduled to headline UFC 216, which takes place at T-Mobile Arena.
"It all depends," said Johnson, on his optimism that the fight would get rescheduled. "Who's to say he doesn't go home and the viral infection gets worse? Anything can happen. That's up to [agent] Malki [Kawa], Abe [Kawa] and UFC. They're working on it."