Bryan Battle says divorce, UFC exit hurt preparation before PFL debut

Bryan Battle has opened up about dealing with personal issues ahead of his Professional Fighters League debut.

Battle made his promotional debut against Johnny Eblen in Pittsburgh this past March. He looked completely out of his depth as Eblen repeatedly slammed him on the canvas before making him tap to a face crank in the opening round.

Bryan Battle Opens Up On Divorce, UFC Release Before PFL Debut

Battle claims he couldn’t give his 100% in training for the fight against Eblen. “The Butcher” revealed that issues like his divorce and exit from the Ultimate Fighting Championship were cluttering his mind going into his PFL debut. Battle believes the lopsided beatdown from Eblen has taught him the hard way to give maximum effort going forward.

“I learned lessons,” Battle told Ariel Helwani. “There was definitely a bit of a learning curve, once again, headlining and fighting a bona fide former world champion… And there's just things in life. Thought we could get away with that. This game demands everything you got… Over the past year, it's just been a lot of things happening... I got divorced. I got cut from the UFC... I was doing the best I could, but I wasn't giving it everything I had. Cause I just had parts of me spread out in different areas of life. Sometimes it takes an ass whooping like that to be like, ‘All my eggs are gonna be in one basket.’”

A lightweight title fight headlines PFL NY: Tune on Friday, July 31 at 7 p.m. ET on ESPN.

Battle (12-3) earned his UFC contract by winning the 29th season of “The Ultimate Fighter” in the middleweight bracket in 2021. He was then released from the UFC last year due to a string of weight misses, despite going 7-1 in the promotion. Battle is now scheduled to fight Dalton Rosta (11-3) in his sophomore PFL bout on Aug. 7 at Bojangles Coliseum in Charlotte, North Carolina.

Bryan Battle opens up about the struggles he faced leading into his PFL debut against Johnny Eblen:

"I learned lessons. There was definitely a bit of a learning curve, once again, headlining and fighting a bona fide former world champion... and there's just things in life.

It's… pic.twitter.com/7r2YGAzC5E— Ariel Helwani (@arielhelwani) July 29, 2026