The Tinian native, representing Team Zeng Zung, was one of Friday night’s only fighters to reach the third round, aside from Rob Wusstig and Shane Alvarez’s five-round title match up.
Borja was declared the winner via unanimous decision while Ilo marked his second MMA loss.
The latter initially drew first blood after cutting Borja near his left eye and nearly snagged a submission win via ankle lock in the second round.
Borja, who landed several clean kicks in round one, attempted a rear naked choke and switched to full mount before dealing more blows to Ilo in round three. Borja finished off on a take down and scored 29-28, 30-27, and 29-28 from the judges.
Meanwhile, Josh “The Hedgehog” Alvarez posted Guam’s first victory on a split decision win against Trench Tech’s Josh “Chaos” Duenas.
The bout was Alvarez’s first win by decision, having won six bouts by submission and one through technical knock out.
An early armbar attempt had Duenas struggling on the ground, with Alvarez resorting to a take down in the second round’s last 30 seconds.
This is Duenas’ first MMA loss since beating Kevin Miranda and Josh Cruz — both by submission — earlier this year.
Alvarez, a member of Guam’s Countershot MMA, last arrived in Saipan last year and defeated Kyle Aguon by rear naked choke.
Martin “Ningbo Slice” Cepeda also went three rounds to beat Countershot’s Keith Corpuz by unanimous decision.
Cepeda turned to his ground game at the start and struck an uppercut to capitalize in the second round. He settled to full mount and hammered Corpuz with slow, steady strikes and nearly knocked him out with a clean punch to the head by round three.
The bout marked Cepeda’s third straight win and improved him to a 4-1 record.
In other MMA match ups, Team Zalaka’s Joe Duenas submitted Guam’s Leandro Dalalo via guillotine choke 2:36 into round one.
Vince Masga quickly finished Daniel Agulto on a rear naked choke 1:46 into the first round.
Marianas Elite’s Irvin Saralu also ended his bout in round one via tap out against The Fight Shop’s Dennis Cruz.
Mark Nuique remained undefeated after tapping out Jay Muna 2:58 into round two. Nuique now has six wins.
Guam’s Jared Melon had a successful debut after beating Dung Castro by tap out 1:58 in the first round.
Marianas Elite’s VJ Pua connected a TKO to rout Lights Out Gym’s Ryan Toves 2:57 into round one.
In a boxing match, Zach Reyes edged George Manglona by unanimous decision.
Tinian’s Renz Benghit also won by decision against John Ilo in an exhibition kickboxing bout.
