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.