Bryan Battle’s week just went from bad to worse.
The UFC announced Friday that Battle’s middleweight matchup with Nursulton Ruziboev at UFC 319 has been cancelled after Battle missed weight by four pounds at the official morning weigh-ins. Initially, the bout was to proceed at a catchweight with Battle forfeiting 30 percent of his purse as penalty, but their fight is now officially off Saturday’s card in Chicago.
Battle (12-2, 1 NC) faces an uncertain future after missing weight for a second consecutive
fight. “The Butcher” won The Ultimate Fighter 29 as a middleweight, then later dropped down to the 170-pound division where he missed weight twice. The second time came this past December, when he weighed 175 pounds for a fight with Randy Brown before going on to win a narrow split decision.
Despite returning to middleweight, Battle still missed weight, coming in at 190 pounds four pounds over the limit (including one-pound allowance for a non-title fight) for his fight with Ruziboev.
This is the third UFC 319 fight this week to be canceled or postponed, with a lightweight bout between King Green and Diego Ferreira and the TUF 33 welterweight final between Daniil Donchenko and Rodrigo Sezinando also being removed from Saturday’s event.
