There’s struggling and missing weight, and then there’s missing weight without even trying and electing to use it as a tactic to gain an advantage against an opponent.
UFC veteran Randy Brown is accusing his UFC 310 opponent, Bryan Battle, of the latter. On Friday, Battle missed weight by an eye-popping four pounds, and Brown didn’t take kindly to his opponent’s lack of professionalism.
Brown joined Sportsnet’s Aaron Bronsteter for an interview shortly after the official weigh-ins and he didn’t hide his frustration.
“It’s one of those things,” Brown said. “We both knew about the fight at the same time. I came in as a professional. I’ve never missed weight at any point in my career. I’ve done this walk over 15 times or more. I made the weight. I think it’s a little unprofessional, but it is what it is. We’ll see what happens.”
Brown was then asked if the weight cut had been hard for him. He didn’t give a straight answer, but he did offer more insight into how he felt about Battle’s handling of the situation.
“They knew they weren’t going to make the weight,” Brown continued. “So they could have told me. They could have said something. I would’ve stopped, and we could have made it a catchweight. But they wanted me to suffer. I know the game. They ain’t slick. They want me to suffer so that I can come down, and he can wrestle me. He’d be a bigger body to wrestle me. They got it that I’m a big welterweight. I know the game, but nah, he’s supposed to cut the weight. 170 was the deal, be a professional and make 170.”
Here is a look at the entire interview:
Battle was the only fighter on the card who missed weight. For what it’s worth, Battle looked fairly rough on the scales as you can see in the video below.
That said, missing weight by four pounds is usually a tell that the fighter abandoned any serious attempt to make the contracted weight days before the weigh-in. Brown’s point is that Battle’s team could have told him they were struggling.
If that had happened, Brown wouldn’t have struggled through his own weight cut, thereby potentially putting him at a competitive disadvantage.
The fight will go on, but there may be some extra animosity on Brown’s side as he tries to overcome an opponent who might be larger in the Octagon. Brown will receive 30% of Battle’s purse as a penalty for the weight miss.
UFC 310 Weigh-In Results
Main Event – Alexandre Pantoja (124.5) vs. Kai Asakura (124.5)
Co-Main Event – Shavkat Rakhmonov (171) vs. Ian Machado Garry (171)
Heavyweight Bout: Ciryl Gane (245.5) vs. Alexander Volkov (254.5)
Featherweight Bout: Bryce Mitchell (146) vs. Kron Gracie (144.5)
Featherweight Bout: Nate Landwehr (145.5) vs. Dooho Choi (146)
Light Heavyweight Bout: Dominick Reyes (205) vs. Anthony Smith (205.5)
Welterweight Bout: Vicente Luque (170.5) vs. Themba Gorimbo (171)
Featherweight Bout: Movsar Evloev (145.5) vs. Aljamain Sterling (145.5)
Welterweight Bout: Randy Brown (171) vs. Bryan Battle (175) Four pounds overweight
Catchweight Bout (195 lbs): Chris Weidman (194.5) vs. Eryk Anders (193)
Flyweight Bout: Cody Durden (126) vs. Joshua Van (126)
Welterweight Bout: Michael Chiesa (170.5) vs. Max Griffin (170)
Lightweight Bout: Clay Guida (155) vs. Chase Hooper (155.5)
Heavyweight Bout: Kennedy Nzechukwu (236.5) vs. Lukasz Brzeski (234)