Bryan Battle was getting ready to struggle by the tip of the yr.
After Battle knocked out Takashi Sato in 44 seconds in June, he needed a fast turnaround. But, that didn’t come to fruition so when Michael Morales was pressured out of his struggle in opposition to Rinat Fakhretdinov, Battle instantly took the scrap on brief discover.
“I believed I used to be going to struggle in December,” Battle mentioned on Just Scrap Radio on BJPENN.com. “I believe that’s a part of the rationale why I used to be in a position to settle for the struggle, as a result of up till lately I believed it could be January. Despite the fact that I didn’t have something booked, I used to be nonetheless coaching in a struggle camp in case one thing got here up. I really feel nice, I’m in implausible form, I just like the matchup, all the celebs align, my weights in a very good place and I’m going to go on the market and make a press release on brief discover and differentiate myself from the pack a little bit bit.”
Though Battle advised his supervisor to get him this struggle, he admits he didn’t know a lot about Fakhretdinov. Nevertheless, after learning him, Battle received extra assured as he believes the one path to victory for Fakhretdinov is to wrestle him.
“I wasn’t conversant in him in any respect. I simply needed to struggle after which I began trying him up afterward. all his fights, watching his UFC struggle,” Battle mentioned. “He has a whole lot of fights on YouTube, he has a whole lot of footage to observe. He’s a very powerful man, and the fashion he fights is a really powerful fashion to cope with. However, I really feel like he has just one avenue to victory and that’s placing strain and wrestling me and holding me down. Having one avenue to victory in opposition to somebody like me that’s not the easiest way to go. You need to have a number of threats.”
Not solely does Bryan Battle assume Rinat Fakhretdinov has one path to victory, however he believes his putting protection has a whole lot of holes. He additionally wonders about Fakhretdinov’s cardio, so with that, Battle has confidence he’ll get his hand raised on Saturday at UFC Vegas 66.
“There are a whole lot of alternative ways I can see it enjoying out, there are some openings he leaves that nobody has been in a position to money in on so far,” Battle mentioned. “Similar to Takashi, I’m going to see if I can exploit a kind of openings early on but when it doesn’t we have now a recreation plan to cope with him the complete time. Not give him a clear shot, we have now some particular stuff cooked up for him. Don’t get drained, bro. If he finally ends up on his again foot it is going to be a very unhealthy night time for him.”
If Battle does beat Fakhretdinov he isn’t certain the place that places him within the division. However, he’s assured it’ll set him up for an enormous 2023.
“It’s a win getting in opposition to a man on an 18-fight win streak who hasn’t misplaced in practically 10 years. It provides me extra notoriety and extra invaluable of an asset,” Battle mentioned. “On paper, it doesn’t push me that far, nevertheless it’s about making a press release.”
Do you assume Bryan Battle will beat Rinat Fakhretdinov at UFC Vegas 66?
