Bryan Battle is ready to prove to everyone just how good he is.
Battle won TUF 30 at middleweight and is 5-1 in the UFC, but is 3-1 since dropping down to welterweight. Last time out, he returned to the win column with a 14-second knockout win over Gabe Green.
After the win, he was hoping to get a more known opponent. But, when he was offered AJ Fletcher at UFC Vegas 79, he got excited about the challenge.
“I mean, I’ll be honest, before I got the fight, I wasn’t super familiar with who he was. But, obviously, I have had plenty of time to get super familiar with who he is. I’ve watched the tape a lot by myself and with my coaches,” Battle said on Just Scrap Radio on BJPENN.com. “We got a pretty good read on him, I’m anticipating there will be a lot of growth, he’s an explosive striker and can hit you with a lot of stuff, and he has a good double leg. He’s a problem more than people give him credit for.”
Part of the reason why Battle is excited about this matchup is because he knows Fletcher will test his takedown defense. In Battle’s lone UFC loss, he was outwrestled by Rinat Fakhretdinov and many have questioned his takedown defense.
With that, Bryan Battle expects AJ Fletcher to come out early and wrestle, but he’s more than ready for it.
“Man, if he doesn’t shoot a double leg at some point in this fight, one it would be a mistake, and two it would be pretty shocking if he didn’t shoot. If you watch our tapes, I don’t see how you wouldn’t think his best path to victory is on the ground. I think the longer we stay on the feet I’m going to start working him,” Battle said.
With Bryan Battle expecting AJ Fletcher to wrestle him at UFC Vegas 79, he’s confident he will keep it standing. Once the two start trading shots on the feet, Battle is confident he will get a KO win.
“It’s just staying ready, taking what he gives to me. Exploiting the differences in how we fight and if he overextends himself early, I’ll be prepared to catch him. If we go 15 minutes and he can take all the shots, we’ll sit there for 15 minutes and I’ll beat him up. My hand will get raised at the end, and I do see myself getting the finish,” Battle said.
Should Battle get the KO win and some stuff takedowns, he believes that will answer a lot of questions people have of him.
“I would love to answer some questions and become more of a sure thing. As of right now, I’m an unknown property. People are trying to figure out what I am and how much potential I have,” Battle said.
