Bryan Battle is hardly surprised over his UFC release.
His fight against Nursulton Ruziboev at UFC 319 was cancelled because Battle missed weight. But that wasn’t the first time. In 2023, he was over two pounds in his fight against Jake Matthews and fought at catchweight. He was overweight again in his bout against Randy Brown in December, but this time four pounds.
The UFC clearly had enough dealing with Battle’s weight cutting issues and opted to release the middleweight. It’s a shame too, as Battle was in the middle of a strong four fight winning streak. However, what’s done is done and life goes on. Battle talked to MMA Fighting about his UFC release and while he hoped that the company would give him one more chance, he does believe that his release was justified.
“So I definitely knew that it was a possibility, you know what I’m saying?,” Battle said. “I definitely thought it was something that could happen and it was justified. It’s not something that I’m going to bitch and moan about at all, but I’m not going to lie, I did think that they weren’t going to cut me, you know what I’m saying? I didn’t think that that was going to happen, but that’s what happened. That’s a result of my own actions."
It didn’t take long for another promotion to snatch up the 30-year-old. It was confirmed last week that Battle signed to Dirty Boxing promotions. And it won’t take him long to compete as well. Battle is scheduled to fight on August 29th in Miami Florida.
“And so now, we’re on to the next thing. I’ve been quiet. There’s been a lot of things I could have said over this whole time. I haven’t been making posts or anything besides collaborating with Dirty Boxing, and other pages on [different] shit, and one of the things I’m most excited about this opportunity is it gives me a chance to let my actions do the talking — show my remorse, show that I’m better with my actions. One of my favorite things one of my coaches used to say was, ‘I hear better with my eyes,’ and so I’m just really looking forward to going out there, making weight, whooping ass, and f*cking just, you know, I don’t got to say it. Y’all can see it. So, that’s what I’m most looking forward to out of all of this.”
Battle was asked about going back to the UFC someday and he’s definitely open to returning, though it’s all up to him keeping his weight in check.
“I think at this stage, it’s really just kind of all on me,” Battle said. “Like, everyone knows I’m f*cking nice with it when it comes to fighting, and so now it’s just time to clean up all the other things and show that I can be a professional, you know what I mean. That’s been one of the big words a lot of people have been throwing around – show that I can be a professional.
“But one thing at a time. ‘The Butcher’ is still a little bit of a commodity. So there’s people asking about me in different places, but I will say the end goal is, just because I feel like I have one in this business, my end goal is to get back to the UFC and f*cking show out. But one thing at a time. I gotta start with making weight this Thursday, winning this fight on Friday, and then I can worry about the next step after that.”