The UFC is done with Bryan Battle.
Battle missed weight, which forced his bout against Nursulton Ruziboev to be cancelled at UFC 319. But this isn’t the first time that the Ultimate Fighter 29 winner has missed weight. 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.
He fought at catchweight, but was fined 30% of his purse. Battle was forced to move back to middleweight and he still failed to make weight. At the end of the day, it’s a lack of discipline that cost him his UFC career. Battle himself was actually a strong four fight winning streak.
In fact, since joining the UFC in 2021, the 30-year-old has only lost one bout during his UFC tenure. His UFC record was 7-1-1. It’s a shame that Battle was released as he had a promising future, but it’s hardly a surprise. Bryan did talk about his latest weight miss on Ariel Helwani’s show and he actually stated that he would understand if the UFC cut him.
“Regardless, no matter what happens, I know I’m still one of the best on the planet, so I know I’ll be back,” Battle told Ariel Helwani. “If I have to go out, whoop some ass, prove myself, and show that I can still do it and still make weight, then that’s what I’ll go do. I’ll come back and fulfill my potential, but I’m in a place right now where I don’t feel entitled to anything.”
“I would understand [if UFC releases me],” Battle added. “If they’re kind of gracious, I’ll be extremely thankful for that. But this is just a time where I must focus on the day-to-day.”
Battle went on to say that he underestimated the cut. The factor of getting older contributed to the difficulty of the weight loss.
“I’m getting older, and I think my body just can’t do the things it used to do. I thought it was going to be a piece of cake, a walk in the park,” Battle said. “When you’re cutting weight and things go south — once things start going downhill, it’s hard to recover from it.”
The future of Bryan Battle remains uncertain. He’ll likely continue fighting, but he may not get a second chance within the UFC. Only time will tell.