Bryan Battle Wants to Make a Statement in Paris

Six of Battle’s seven UFC fights have taken place in the APEX, and considering that he’s only lost one of them (to Rinat Fakhretdinov in December of 2022), he’s done all right without a packed arena cheering him on. Then again, in his one arena fight against Green, he did end it in less than 30 seconds. So you know which one he prefers.

“When there's a large gathering of people and they're into it and they're pouring their energy into it, you can feel it,” he said. “I feel like the brighter the lights, in general, brings the best side of me. I'm very comfortable at the APEX. I've had my fair share of really good performances at the APEX, but I can go to a different level when all the lights are on.”

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It’s good timing for “The Butcher,” who seemed on the verge of big things when a March fight he was winning against Ange Loosa ended in a no contest when an inadvertent eye poke from Battle rendered Loosa unable to continue. So while the six-month wait to get back in the Octagon was long, he’s let the Loosa fight go.

“It's more irritating than anything, but, to me, I don't need to fight him again,” said Battle. “We both got booked for different opponents and a lot of people were talking about how they wanted to see it again. I didn't need to see it again. I didn't need to fight him again to know what was going to happen. I would've liked to have the definitive ending, especially because years from now when people don't remember what happened in that fight, they just check the record and they see it was a no contest. They'll be like, ‘I wonder why it was a no contest?’ It's like, well, I was whooping his ass. But nah, I didn't really dwell too much on it.” 

As a father of two, he doesn’t have time for that stuff, anyway, and if there’s a negative to the fighting life, it’s that he has to leave the little ones to train and go fight. 

“That's the toughest part, for sure,” Battle said. “Not being able to see my kids for an extended period of time. But I feel like I'm afforded a special ability to spend time with them, that normal people don't get. So, it's like, all right, let's go out and let's handle business. And then Daddy's going to come home and we're going to have a blast. We're going to watch Cars 3.”

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A young man with his priorities in order, the 30-year-old Battle has never been one to get caught up with the trappings of fame. This is how he puts food on the table, it’s what he loves to do, and if you’re on board with that, great. If you’re not, he’s not too concerned, because he knows if he keeps doing what he’s doing, everything else will fall into place. 

“I have a really great fan base that's really riding for me,” he said. “There are definitely people that are seeing what I'm capable of, but I really don't care. I know it's a matter of time. If you go back and watch the very first episode of The Ultimate Fighter I was on, I was like, I'm world class; people just don't know it yet. And that's still how I feel. I feel like I'm the best. Even people who do try to give me respect, I feel like they're still underestimating me. So yeah, it's not something I get too caught up on. I'm just striving to be the best version of myself every time I go out there. And I know that I'll convince more people of what I'm capable of every time I go out there more and more and more. So, for sure, I definitely don't think I get the respect that I deserve. But on the other hand, I'm not that concerned about it.”