UFC releases Bryan Battle after weight-cutting issues

Bryan Battle’s UFC tenure effectively ended this week after a string of weight-cutting issues culminated in his middleweight bout against Nursulton Ruziboev being pulled from UFC 319, followed by the organization’s decision to release the former The Ultimate Fighter winner. Battle weighed in at 190 pounds, four pounds over the non-title middleweight limit, prompting the cancellation of the fight just days before the event in Chicago. The development comes after a history of misses across two different divisions, and it marks a abrupt turn in a career that had once suggested potential as a top-15 contender at either welterweight or middleweight.

Battle’s weight issues at UFC 319 were not an isolated incident. In his most recent appearance prior to the event, he weighed in four pounds over the welterweight limit for a bout against Randy Brown, a miss that followed an earlier weight overrun at welterweight; his struggle to consistently hit weight limits has long been a talking point among fans and analysts. For UFC, repeated missives across divisions have been viewed as a systemic concern, with the organization signaling that professionalism and disciplined weight cuts are...