Bryan
Battle will risk it all to make a statement in his
Professional Fighters League debut.
Battle is scheduled to make his debut against Johnny
Eblen at
PFL Pittsburgh on Saturday at the UPMC Events Center in
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. While Eblen has never been knocked out
before, Battle warns that he has previously handed other fighters
their first-ever knockout losses. Battle isn’t just content with
winning in his PFL debut, as winning isn’t enough to sell tickets.
While Battle knows that Eblen can try to control him on the ground,
“The Butches” promises to leave it all inside the cage to make it a
“kill or be killed” kind of fight.
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Willing to Risk it All
“Winning being the name of the game is just pretty lame,” Battle
told MMAjunkie.com. “Winning being the name of the
game does not sell tickets. Nah, I’m coming in to knock him out.
There’s a lot of guys that I’ve fought that hadn’t been knocked out
before I fought them. I’m not looking just for the knockout, I’ll
take what he gives me. If he gives me his neck, I’ll take his neck.
If he gives me his arm, I’ll take his arm. But I’m leaving with
something. He’s not gonna leave the cage whole. I’m willing to risk
it all to get some of that. If he wants to beat me, he’s gonna have
to fight to finish me. He can take me and hold me down. But I’ll
try to make it a kill or be killed kind of fight. One of us either
needs to be knocked out or choked out by the end of
it.”
Battle (12-2) was released from the
UFC after consecutive weight misses in different weight
classes. Battle missed weight for his welterweight win over
Randy
Brown in 2024. Battle again missed weight by four pounds for a
middleweight clash against Nursulton
Ruziboev at UFC 319 last year, leading to the cancellation of
the bout. Battle has since picked up two knockout wins in Dirty
Boxing before signing with the PFL last year. Meanwhile, Eblen
(16-1) is coming off his lone career loss against PFL middleweight
champion Costello
van Steenis in July 2025.