The
Ultimate Fighting Championship is down to a dozen bouts on its
tentpole pay-per-view card.

At the morning
UFC 319 weigh-ins on Friday, former welterweight Bryan
Battle weighed in at 190 pounds ahead of his 185-pound match
with Nursulton
Ruziboev. While Battle was initially handed a 30% fine of his
purse, the organization has
elected to cancel the fight entirely. This is not the first
time Battle has missed weight, as he becomes one of a small number
of athletes over the years to come in heavy in two different
divisions.

In Battle’s last time out against Randy
Brown, he clocked in at 175 pounds, or four pounds above the
171-pound cap for that weight category. While he prevailed, it
marked his second weight miss in the promotion—he previously came
in two pounds heavy before knocking out Gabriel
Green in 2023. In his return to middleweight, where he fought
twice with the UFC before dropping down, Battle again exceeded his
division’s one-pound allowance limit by four pounds.Rarified Air for Ex-Heavyweight “Pooh Bear”

The former welterweight joins a number of names throughout
promotional history that missed weight across multiple divisions.
The club whose membership includes names like Anthony
Johnson, Thiago
Alves, Charles
Oliveira, Ray Borg and
John
Lineker adds one more to the list due to Battle’s inability to
reach the 170- or 185-pound maximums.

Battle initially started his amateur career as a heavyweight, only
to slim down to 205 pounds and beat names like Impa
Kasanganay and Cody
Brundage on the amateur circuits. When he turned pro in 2019,
the Charlotte, North Carolina, local relocated himself to
middleweight, where he amassed his first five wins opposite his
lone stoppage loss—an armbar to Nickalas
Martino in his sophomore outing.

The athlete trained out of Hayastan joined the 29th season of “The
Ultimate Fighter” at middleweight in 2021. A pair of wins under
Team Volkanovski elevated him to the finals, where he earned the
UFC contract by beating Gilbert
Urbina to wrap up the 185-pound TUF bracket. His lone setback
thus far in the Octagon other than poking Ange Loosa in
the eye to force a no contest is a decision loss to Rinat
Fakhretdinov in 2022.

UFC 319 will continue on Saturday at the United Center in Chicago
with its main event still intact, a middleweight championship
collision between Dricus Du
Plessis and Khamzat
Chimaev. The co-headliner sees Lerone
Murphy try to stave off newcomer Aaron Pico
at 145 pounds, while other marquee tilts include Carlos
Prates vs. Geoff Neal at
welterweight and a flyweight contest pitting Tim Elliott
against Kai
Asakura.