Bryan Battle had arguably his best and worst week leading up to UFC 310.
On the positive side of things, the Ultimate Fighter 29 winner was finally getting a step up in competition with a fight against Randy Brown, and he was performing on the year-end pay-per-view. Unfortunately, he also faced plenty of negative feedback after he missed weight by a full four pounds, gave up 30 percent of his purse as a result, and then eked out a razor-close split decision to extend his undefeated streak to five in a row.
While Battle understands the criticism he rightfully deserves for missing weight, he promises he was doing everything possible to cut those few extra pounds until his body just told him it wasn’t going to happen.
“Not even Thursday night, all the way up to Friday morning, I was trying to make weight,” Battle told MMA Fighting. “It was at some point early Friday morning, I was in the tub for like 45 minutes to close to an hour and I wasn’t breaking a sweat. When that was happening knowing how much I sweat, that was when I told my team you need to hit up Jason [House], I think we might have a problem.
“It was bad. It definitely sucked. All you can do is learn the lessons from it and not let that shit happen again.”
In the aftermath of the botched weight cut, and then again following the fight, Battle has heard complaints that he actually knew he was going to miss weight, but allowed Brown to continue cutting so he could potentially gain an advantage.
As much as some fighters believe that happens, Battle believes any accusations aimed at him are misguided, especially when looking at the bigger picture regarding his career.
“Here’s the thing, that’s such a short-sighted way to approach things,” Battle said. “Because there is a purse consequence, but also it affects the faith of the fans, it affects the faith of the matchmakers.
“I walked into the cage the same weight I would walking if I would have made it. I don’t like being above a certain weight fighting at 170 because people are fast. I saw some people throwing that around. It’s like if that’s going to help you rationalize it, but no, I did my very best [to make weight]. I squeezed all the juice I had out of me.”
Brown eventually accepted the fight along with financial compensation from Battle’s purse, which is where the whole ordeal ends for the 30-year-old veteran.
Battle acknowledged if the roles were reversed he wouldn’t have taken the fight if Brown missed weight. Brown could have done the same but he elected to compete, which is why Battle doesn’t want to hear any complaining afterwards.
“Excuses got to go out the window, to me,” Battle said. “One, you have the option to say, ‘No, I don’t want to fight that person, they didn’t make the agreed-upon weight.’ Two, you get a chunk of my purse if you do accept it. Regardless, the fact that he took the fight, absolute dog. He’s a f*cking gangster, but with that being said, you can’t talk to me about four pounds and talking about it being this advantage. No, you took it. All the excuses, at that point, we just fight. Once you agree to the fight, it is what it is.
“With that being said, once again, no matter what anyone says, even if people say that, I really don’t care. It’s one of those things where I know me. I know I walked in at my normal walk-in weight so I know there’s no difference. People are like, ‘He had a game plan, he’s going to put Randy against the cage and he wanted to be heavier.’ That’s not necessarily my game plan but four extra pounds, no four extra pounds, I would have been able to do that regardless. It wouldn’t have made a difference in what I was able to do.”
The grueling three-round fight ended with Battle getting his hand raised by split decision and even though it’s not the performance he wanted, he has no doubt he deserved the nod.
“I’m 100 percent confident in the decision,” Battle said. “It’s just like if you throw another two rounds on there, who do you think wins that fight? You think Randy’s beating me in the next two rounds? Absolutely not. He had one kind of spurt in the third round, but he never hurt me. He never really did any damage.
“I was controlling him and it was a lot of nasty, dirty shots that I was landing that people weren’t appreciating. There was a lot of grimy stuff happening that people weren’t seeing. It is what it is. The fight went where it went and I won the fight where it was. I was confident in myself that I won the third round but I knew it also depends on the perspective of the people watching it.”
Considering everything that went wrong, which also included a cut he suffered over his eye just days away from the fight that even had Battle questioning if he could compete, he still managed to walk away with the win.
He definitely understands Brown’s frustration with the loss and Battle admits he’s not even all that upset that “Rude Boy” called him a “bum.” In fact, Battle would actually prefer to transform Brown from an enemy to a friend once this situation simmers down.
“I think he’s saying what he needs to say and fair game to him,” Battle said about Brown. “It was a close fight. He’s entitled to his opinion. Not only do I have any ill will [towards] him, if I was ever up in New York, I wouldn’t mind getting some training in with him. I wouldn’t mind taking him out to eat and picking his brain on some things. If he’s talking, if he’s making noise, go ahead. Get it out there. But he’s a great fighter.
“If we do run it back, that would be awesome.
I’m totally up for a rematch. It would be great to catch up with Randy at some point. Hey Randy, how’s it going? Let’s have a chat sometime soon.