UFC 319 has gone through a lot of changes during the final few days of fight week.
The card already lost two fights before the weigh-ins had taken place on Friday, though the main card hasn’t been affected.
There was only one fighter who missed weight heading into the Octagon’s return to the United Center in Chicago.
While it looked at first like the matchup would still take place, this ended up being changed, with UFC 319 now down three fights just two days before the event.
With the final card now hopefully set in stone hours away from the first matchup taking place, one fighter looked to apologize for his actions.
Bryan Battle apologized to Nursulton Ruziboev and explained why he missed weight ahead of UFC 319
In his first fight of the year, Bryan Battle was set to take on Nursulton Ruziboev after moving up to the middleweight division.
His second consecutive weight miss led to Bryan receiving criticism from fans when he came in four pounds higher than the non-title limit.
Ruziboev responded by questioning his opponent’s professionalism following the news that the matchup wouldn’t be taking place despite him agreeing to take the fight regardless of the miss.
In a video posted by Full Send MMA, Battle was able to find his scheduled opponent, where he looked to apologize for missing the mark and their fight being pulled.
“I thought it would be a lot easier,” Battle responded when Ruziboev brought up the fact that he used to compete at welterweight. “I got a little bit sick towards the end of the week, you know what I’m saying. It’s on me, I’m very sorry.”
Their interaction was fairly positive, though it was clear that Ruziboev was frustrated by some of the American’s actions, including some comments that he made during fight week.
Battle apologized several times, and after Ruziboev pitched for them to be rescheduled for a fight at UFC 321 in Abu Dhabi in October, he accepted.
“Hey, it’s on your terms now. Let’s go, October, Abu Dhabi. Let’s go.”
Bryan Battle had trash-talked Nursulton Ruziboev earlier in the week
When speaking to Nursulton Ruziboev after their fight was cancelled, Bryan Battle’s comments during fight week were brought up.
Battle had told Spinnin Backfist that he blamed his opponent for their now cancelled bout being scheduled to take place on the prelims.
“I should be on the main card… Nursulton is dragging me down. This isn’t the UFC’s fault, this is Nursulton’s fault and he’s going to have to pay for it.”
Battle explained that he wasn’t looking to criticize his opponent, he was just “trying to have a little fun”
