Bryan Battle is back to middleweight again, for now.
Battle (12-2 MMA, 7-1 UFC) popped onto the UFC’s scene as a middleweight on Season 29 of “The Ultimate Fighter,” and fought his first two fights on the big stage in the weight class. He won his first two fights in the UFC at 185 pounds, but then switched to welterweight, where he made his last seven appearances, putting together a 5-1 record with one no contest.
Now, Battle is moving back up, and his reason is pretty straightforward. It’s not a permanent move either, but he’ll be ready to answer the call for welterweight or middleweight fights in the future.
“It was a matter of I wanted to fight, and this was the fastest way to get a fight,” Battle told MMA Junkie. “I told my agent, 170, 185 – it’s all the same to me. There’s little tradeoffs in each direction, but big guys, smaller guys, it doesn’t matter. I’m a fighter. I train to fight people. I train to whoop everyone’s ass. That’s what I’m excited to do this fight. Go out there and just remind everybody who ‘The Butcher’ is and what he does.”
Battle’s middleweight return takes place at UFC 319 at the United Center in Chicago, where he will face Nursulton Ruziboev. The Uzbekistan-born fighter quickly turned heads with his finishing power when he entered the UFC in 2023, but Battle isn’t worried about the challenge that lies ahead.
“He’s a big, aggressive guy,” Battle said. “A lot of people, when they fight him, I guess because he’s so ugly, it’s easy for him to intimidate people. You know, big, scary, ugly foreign dude. I watched his tape. He seems like a tough guy. He seems like a game challenge, but nothing I’m too concerned about. I feel really good. I feel really locked in right now. I feel like I’m gonna wipe the floor with this guy. Whether it was someone who made welterweight before or if he was just a real middleweight, it doesn’t f*cking matter. He’s just the next person whose ass I’m gonna whoop.”
Ruziboev (36-9-2 MMA, 4-1 UFC) has recorded three finishes in his four UFC victories. He’s a finisher, but so is Battle, with five of his seven UFC wins coming before the final horn. “The Butcher” intends to tally another on Aug. 16 to be the first to finish Ruziboev in the UFC.
“I won’t want to reveal too much, but I see my opportunities,” Battle said. “Maybe we’ll get him out of there quick, maybe we gotta go to hell. The one thing I can confidently say, it’s not gonna go to the judges’ scorecards.”
