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USA Today Sports Media Group
USA Today Sports Media Group
Sport
Danny Segura and Ken Hathaway

Why Bryan Battle thinks he underperformed at UFC Fight Night 228 despite submission win over AJ Fletcher

LAS VEGAS – Bryan Battle is not fully happy with his performance, despite getting his hand raised in the end.

The Season 29 “Ultimate Fighter” winner picked up a second-round submission win over AJ Fletcher this past Saturday on the main card of UFC Fight Night 228. Yet, despite leaving unscathed and with a stoppage victory, Battle (10-2 MMA, 5-1 UFC) thinks he didn’t fight up to his true potential against Fletcher (10-3 MMA, 1-3 UFC).

“Honestly, with the type of work me and my coaches were doing, I kind of underperformed a little bit,” Battle said at a post-fight news conference. “I was really gunshy in that first round. I was really tentative. But after he sent that big shot out, I was like, ‘OK, it’s time to fight now. It’s time to wake up. Let’s go.’ Honestly, there wasn’t a lot of surprising once I was in there.”

Battle thinks he got too into reading Fletcher and not trying to make a mistake in that first round. However, in the second, that was all gone, and he went in for the kill.

“For a multitude of reasons,” Battle said when asked why he underperformed. “One, you always want to get your range and timing and all that. I guess I just felt so prepared for this fight, I didn’t want to do anything silly and make any goofy mistakes. I didn’t want to give up a takedown because I was too aggressive. He’s shown explosive takedowns and really good top control, and I didn’t want to give that to him.”

For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC Fight Night 228.

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