The UFC fans don’t always get what they want – Tom Aspinall vs Jon Jones never materialized, neither did Jones vs former heavyweight champion, Francis Ngannou.
But on this occasion, it seems like some of the more outraged fans got their wish on Wednesday when it was reported that the organization cut UFC middleweight fighter, Bryan Battle.
After Battle missed weight for the third time in his UFC career – the first two being at welterweight, this one being at middleweight – a whole 15lbs more of leeway, the UFC cancelled the previously scheduled bout between him and fellow middleweight, Nursulton Ruziboev.
And fans were not happy, calling for the 2021 The Ultimate Fighter winner, Battle, to be cut from the promotion.
Bryan Battle Faces Serious Consequences For Third Weight Miss
Some may consider this drastic action from the UFC, especially for a fighter with some much talent and potential like Battle. The Missouri native had six wins with the fight promotion, four of which were finishes, alongside one loss and one no contest, before being cut on Wednesday.
Indeed, other fighters like former UFC Interim Middleweight Championship challenger, Kelvin Gastelum, have missed weight on numerous occasions and not faced the ultimate repercussion from Dana White, Hunter Campbell and co.
Perhaps it was the egregiousness of Battle’s weight miss, with him having missed the 186 non-championship weight middleweight limit by 4 lbs, coming in at 190 lbs at the weigh ins last Friday. Before that, during a razor-thin split-decision win against Randy Brown back at UFC 310, he also came in 4 lbs over the 171 lb welterweight maximum, forcing a catchweight bout at 175 lbs.
What Is The Reason Behind Battle Getting Cut?
The size of the weight miss would have no doubt played a part in White, Campbell and the matchmakers’ frustration towards one of the brighter non-ranked talents at 185 lbs.
If a fighter repeatedly misses weight at one particular class, like welterweight – in the case of Battle, the organization can always tell them to move up a class to avoid future problems. Indeed, the combatants and their coaches can also feed the UFC brass the generic “he’s too big for the weight class, he just needed to move up line”.
But to miss at two different weight classes 15 whole lbs apart shows a form of disrespect and what many might argue to be a lack of discipline from an athlete competing at the highest level of the sport.
And to do so by that vast amount – 4lbs – in back-to-back, consecutive fights may have been too much for the big boss, particularly for a guy who is not one of the promotion’s established stars.
One who, in the eyes of many, also lost his last fight to Brown.
White hates fighters missing weight – even if it is just by half a pound. Three times in the past six proposed fights, and across two different classes, and Battle’s time in the UFC is now no more.
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