Bryan Battle Here To Make It Happen

The 26-year-old has carried a Kelvin Gastelum vibe throughout the season, having been selected next to last and continually exceeding expectations to reach the finals of the middleweight competition, just like the Season 17 winner. Whether it’s because of his limited experience or the perceived quality of competition he’s fought, few people looked at the crop of 185-pound talents heading into the house and circled Battle as their choice to win the whole thing.

And even though he’s a win away from running the table this weekend, “Pooh Bear” is still being doubted.

“It’s weird because even with my performance on the show, when Tresean was supposed to fight, everyone had Tresean winning,” Battle said with a laugh, amused by his perpetual underdog status. “Gilbert is filling in now, and a lot of people still think Gilbert is going to win.”

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The skepticism of the public doesn’t bother the middleweight finalist, who defeated Kemran Lachinov by unanimous decision and submitted Andre Petroski to reach to the finals, as he’s too filled with confidence from the lessons he learned during the course of the show and hearing Volkanovski sing his praises on multiple episodes since returning home.

“It was really…” he began, unable to find the right words. “Volk didn’t really gas me up when we were on the show, not the way he did in the behind-the-scenes stuff because he didn’t want to cause turmoil within the team, so watching that back, it was…”

He trailed off again.

“It warmed my heart, man,” he resumed. “It’s a weird thing that a lot of people sleep on me, but having someone like Volk recognize my talents means a lot more than a million random people thinkin’ I ain’t s***, you know?

“The world champ thinks I’m the real deal, so who cares what all these trolls think?”

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He lets out a laugh, but the power of that reality has clearly set in with Battle, whom Volkanovski praised throughout the show for his eagerness to learn, his ability to take direction and coaching, and his “jack-of-all-trades” style inside the cage.

While the season played out on television over a dozen weeks, the amount of time the contestants spent inside the house was more condensed, which means there wasn’t a great deal of time for picking up too many new techniques or really spending time drilling — weight management and fight prep were the main focuses — but that doesn’t mean Battle didn’t take a few critical things away from being a member of Team Volkanovski and working with the all-star coaching staff “Alexander the Great” assembled.

“There was just so much wisdom (in the room) because those guys have seen so much and been a part of so much,” he said of working with the staff that included Volkanovski’s head coach Joe Lopez, jiu jitsu coach Craig Jones, and wrestling coach Frank Hickman. “What they were really able to teach me about the brainier aspects of the game is the stuff that I’ll remember forever — their philosophies on certain things, like the way you approach fighting, or being on the ground and whether you go for attacks or be defensive.