Outside Source
Battle was scheduled to fight Nursulton Ruziboev at UFC 319 earlier this month. However, “The Butcher” missed the non-title middleweight limit of 186 pounds by four pounds, leading to the cancellation of the bout. This was Battle’s second weight miss in a row after missing weight in a welterweight matchup against Randy Brown last December that inspired the move to middleweight. Despite a promising 7-1 UFC record, “The Ultimate Fighter 29” winner was released from the promotion days later.
However, Battle didn’t take long to find a new home in Dirty Boxing Championship, where he made his debut on Friday in Miami. Battle dropped his opponent, Derik Freitas, once before finishing him in just under a minute. Battle didn’t miss weight for his middleweight outing against Freitas at DBX 3. Explaining his weight miss for UFC 319, Battle blamed ‘tactical errors.’ Battle admittedly assumed that the weight cut would be easier than it was. Seemingly regretting his weight miss, Battle says he would have disappeared from the public eye if he didn’t make weight for his Dirty Boxing debut.
“Tactical errors,” Battle told Home of Fight ahead of his DBX debut. “I thought it was gonna be easier than it was… If I would have made weight this time, I would have had to go hide in the woods somewhere for who knows how long. I would have had to disappear. I would have gone away forever. But that’s not the case. I wasn’t gonna let that be the case. That won’t be the case ever again. Those are struggles that are behind us now.”
Battle Eager to Return to UFC
While Battle is ready to return to the UFC immediately, he knows he’ll have to earn some credibility on the regional circuit first. But Battle will be ready whenever the call comes.
“I’m ready to be back right now,” he said. “So I’ll go out there, do my thing, show that I can make weight, show that I can be professional. And when they’re ready to take me back, I’ll be ready to go back.”
This article first appeared at Recent News on Sherdog.com
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