Bryan Battle was pumped when he got the short notice call to fight Gabe Green at UFC Charlotte.
Battle was born and raised in Charlotte, North Carolina, and has repped his home his entire career. With that, he knew fighting at home would be special and he says all fight week felt like a dream.
“It still feels surreal, it feels like a dream. It’s been crazy, the people of Charlotte were amazing,” Battle said to BJPENN.com. “You couldn’t write this in a movie on how that fight all played out, it was perfect.”
Although Battle was fighting at home, there was pressure on him to perform in front of all his friends and family. However, Battle says he used the pressure to motivate him to get a stoppage which is what happened. Green pressured Battle from the get-go and the Charlotte native landed a beautiful counter shot and knocked Green out in just 14-seconds.
“I was expecting a high-paced fight, but I wasn’t expecting him to come out like that. It was definitely a surprise, but if you pressure me, I can counter like that, and I proved that,” Battle said. “My power is just different. The week before the fight, I actually knocked someone out in sparring just by landing a punch, and I didn’t even mean to knock him out. If I touch you, whether it’s a punch or a kick, that’s it, especially at welterweight.”
After the win, Bryan Battle called out Ian Garry who went on to KO Daniel Rodriguez later on that night. Although Garry is now ranked 13th, Battle believes that the fight makes a lot of sense and hopes it happens.
Unfortunately, Battle doesn’t think Garry will sign on the dotted line as he claims the Irishman knows he loses that fight.
“Ian is set on anybody that’s not me. When it comes to matchmaking, I have no idea how it actually works, like I have no idea how they decide who is fighting who,” Battle concluded. “But, what has come more apparent is a lot more people are talking about this fight and it seems like this is a fight the people want to see. I’m here for it, I’m ready to bust Ian’s ass. I don’t know if Ian is going to sign the contract as he knows fighting me is bad for business cause he knows I’m going to knock him out.”
Would you like to see Bryan Battle vs. Ian Garry?
