Battle On Divorce, UFC Release Hurting PFL Prep

Bryan Battle was mentally scattered heading into his Professional Fighters League debut against Johnny Eblen, and the result showed.

Battle absorbed a first-round submission loss in Pittsburgh this past March, tapping to a face crank after repeated slams from Eblen. Speaking to Ariel Helwani, Battle revealed that personal turmoil prevented him from giving full effort in camp. His divorce and abrupt exit from the Ultimate Fighting Championship cluttered his focus going into the bout.

Battle's Costly Learning Curve Against Eblen

"I learned lessons," Battle told Helwani. "There was definitely a bit of a learning curve, once again, headlining and fighting a bona fide former world champion… And there's just things in life. Thought we could get away with that. This game demands everything you got… Over the past year, it's just been a lot of things happening... I got divorced. I got cut from the UFC... I was doing the best I could, but I wasn't giving it everything I had. Cause I just had parts of me spread out in different areas of life. Sometimes it takes an ass whooping like that to be like, 'All my eggs are gonna be in one basket.'"

Battle went 7-1 during his UFC stint after winning The Ultimate Fighter 29 at middleweight in 2021. The promotion released him last year following multiple weight misses.

He faces Dalton Rosta on Aug. 7 at Bojangles Coliseum in Charlotte, North Carolina, for his second PFL appearance.

Reported via:

• Sherdog — Bryan Battle says divorce, UFC exit hurt preparation before PFL debut