Battle was in the same position as Pauga, Usman, Walker, and Miller just 11 months ago, prepping to face Gilbert Urbina in the TUF 29 middleweight finale. He won that contest by second-round submission and followed it up by out-hustling his originally scheduled opponent, Tresean Gore, five months later to move to 2-0 in the UFC and 8-1 overall.
This weekend, makes his debut in the welterweight division, squaring off with Japanese veteran Takashi Sato.
The move down a division makes sense for Battle, who wasn’t the biggest guy at ’85 in terms of his physical stature and seemed to have the room to make the cut without too many issues. Provided he can make the 170-pound limit safely, his size should help even out the shortfalls he was facing at middleweight.
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His first two UFC wins showcased the grit and toughness of the former Team Volkanovski man, who is still very much a work in progress when it comes to skill and technique and experience. I said throughout Season 29 and his initial appearances that he reminds me of Kelvin Gastelum, as you can see the potential he possesses and it’s just a matter of whether he and the team he’s surrounded himself with can find a way to maximize it going forward.
Sato is a good test for Battle at this stage — a 32-year-old veteran coming off a competitive return to action opposite Gunnar Nelson in London that trains with a great team and has the savvy and skills to push the ascending TUF winner.
Battle has looked good thus far, and it will be interesting to see how he looks down a division this time around.
