As many Ultimate Fighter winners have done before him, TUF 29 champ Bryan Battle is moving down a weight class for his next bout.
Battle (7-1) will face Japanese welterweight Takashi Sato (16-5) at the UFC’s August 6, 2022 Fight Night event. MMA Fighting was first to report news of the match-up, which Battle later confirmed on social media.
Through two UFC fights to date, Bryan Battle has been perfect inside the octagon — although in a weird way, both have been TUF 29 finales. When original opponent Tresean Gore was forced out of the Ultimate Fighter 29 finale, Gilbert Urbina stepped up, with Battle winning via second-round submission. In his very next fight, Battle would get the man he was originally supposed to face for the TUF title, and got past Gore, winning a unanimous decision.
Despite that success, Battle will drop the 15 pounds necessary to move to welterweight. There, he finds Sato coming off back-to-back losses against Miguel Baeza and Gunnar Nelson. Overall, Sato, who trains with Sanford MMA, is 2-3 inside the octagon. His most recent appearance was against Nelson at UFC London back in March; Sato wound up losing a unanimous decision that night.
The UFC’s August 6, 2022 Fight Night card does not have a location, venue, or broadcast plan officially announced. The following fights are currently expected for the event:
- Thiago Santos vs. Jamahal Hill
- Miranda Granger vs. Cory McKenna
- Vicente Luque vs. Geoff Neal
- Terrance McKinney vs. Erick Gonzalez
- Sam Alvey vs. Michał Oleksiejczuk
- Augusto Sakai vs. Sergey Spivak
- Bryan Battle vs. Takashi Sato
Editor’s note: article has been updated to reflect that Battle won season 29 of The Ultimate Fighter, not 28 as originally indicated.
