After a patient opening round, Bryan Battle gradually started to step things up in the 2nd round against A.J. Fletcher tonight at UFC Fight Night 228, getting his opponent to the mat and eventually submitting him with a rear-naked choke.
Round One:
Solid calf kick from Fletcher to start. He lands another. Another kick for him off a punchh.
Body kick for Battle and then a push kick. Fletcher lands another couple of leg kicks. Push kick from Battle.
Inside leg kick from Fletcher. Battle with more teep kicks to the body. Fletcher attempts an overhand that just whiffs past the target.
Calf kick for Battle. Inside leg kick from Fletcher. More push kicks for Battle. Fletcher steps in with a couple of punches. He lands another down the pipe. Fletcher back to the low kicks.
Fletcher hustles in and lands a nice right hand. Battle stays true to his push kick, landing it a few more times.
Fletcher drives into a takedown attempt across the cage, but then settles for the clinch against the cage. They start to move away and Fletcher blasts Battle with an elbow strike that puts him down to a knee for a moment. Battle back up quickly though. He seems ok but that wasn’t a good look for him at the end of the round.
Round Two:
Nice punch to the body from Fletcher. Body kicks from Battle. Two teep kicks in quick succession. Fletcher clinches up and drives Battle into the cage.
Across the Octagon they go in the clinch then a jockey for position against the cage with Battle getting the advantage and working some knees to the ribs. He continues to land those.
Battle working a takedown now and lands it. Fletcher trying to scramble back up, but Battle adjusts and moves to half-guard.
Battle trying to settle up a kimura now. Fletcher gets his arm to a safer spot and Battle gives up on it. Battle starts to land some punches instead. Nothing too heavy, but staying active on top.
Battle back to the kimura and again Fletcher quickly gets his arm away. Fletcher rolls to his knees and Battle is latched to his back and sinks in the rear-naked choke. This looks like a bad spot for Fletcher and sure enough he taps out soon after at 4.32mins of the 2nd round.
