Preview: UFC 310 Prelims

Welterweights

Bryan Battle (11-2, 6-1 UFC) vs. Randy Brown (19-5, 13-5 UFC)

ODDS: Battle (-230), Brown (+190)

Two welterweights looking to break into the UFC’s rankings square off in this fun bit of matchmaking. Battle won the middleweight bracket of “The Ultimate Fighter” comeback season in 2021, but “The Butcher” didn’t particularly register as a prospect to watch at the time. Battle was an entertaining enough fighter who found success overwhelming his opponents through sheer pace, but he didn’t look like enough of an athlete or a technical marvel to keep up with competition once he hit the UFC roster. However, Battle cut down to welterweight in short order, and everything has seemingly clicked into place as a result. The weight cut has resulted in Battle looking in much better shape, and he has done an impressive job of leveraging his newfound size advantage. Battle is suddenly comfortable and effective as a one-shot-at-a-time sniper, but he has also shown an ability to return to his reckless ways as needed, often when he’s going for the kill after getting an opponent on the ropes. Battle’s lone loss at welterweight, a grinding decision against Rinat Fakhretdinov late in 2022, does suggest that stronger wrestlers can find success neutralizing him, but standing with him has been a losing proposition at 170 pounds. Takashi Sato and Gabriel Green each quickly ate brutal knockout shots, and Battle’s last three wins have seen him slowly work on his opponents before blowing the fight open, highlighted by a definitive victory over Kevin Jousset in Paris on Sept. 28. Now comes what might be Battle’s toughest test to date, and it’s against someone his own size in the similarly lanky Brown.

It speaks to Brown’s talent that he has been highly successful—since 2019, he has won nine of 11 fights—while seemingly leaving a lot on the table with his approach. “Rude Boy” was all potential when the UFC picked him up less than two years into his professional career back in 2016, so it wasn’t a shock that his success came in fits and starts, as Brown would mix sharp performances with showings where he was just flummoxed against better athletes or more technical fighters. A 2019 win over Bryan Barberena seems to be where Brown finally turned a corner. That fight remains the most consistent performance of his career, but Brown has been a much sharper fighter ever since. Brown’s physical talent allows him do a lot of things, which is both a blessing and a curse. During his fights, he seems more focused on the next big idea or potential highlight than any sort of consistent game plan. That feels like it should cost Brown a lot of fights, particularly in a deep division like welterweight, but his lone setbacks in the last half-decade have come against a peak Vicente Luque and current rising contender in Jack Della Maddalena. Even effective veterans like Muslim Salikhov and Elizeu Zaleski dos Santos have been unable to get past Brown within this calendar year. Brown might be able to coast by again in this assignment, particularly as one of the few fighters who can match Battle at range, but this does seem like a poor matchup for him. That ability to match each other at range cuts both ways, and Brown has been at his worst against opponents who apply pressure and don’t give him time and space to set things up—an option to which Battle figures to ramp up. The pick is Battle via second-round stoppage.

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