Bryan Battle Accuses Ange Loosa of Quitting After Eye Poke Results in No Contest

Bryan Battle is certain Ange Loosa wanted a way out of their UFC Fight Night 239 clash.

Battle appeared to be getting the better of Loosa in the evening’s co-headliner before an accidental eye poke by “Pooh Bear” brought the contest to a halt in Round 2. Seemingly in agony, Loosa told the cageside doctor that his vision was impaired, leading the fight to end in an unfortunate no contest.

A few heated words were exchanged between both parties inside the Octagon before security intervened. Battle accused Loosa of quitting in his post-fight Octagon interview and reiterated the accusation during the post-fight press conference. Battle admitted that he had initiated the exchange of words. Based on his previous experience with eye pokes, “The Ultimate Fighter 29” middleweight winner is certain that Loosa’s vision wasn’t completely impaired.

“What triggered the argument is I looked at him and I called him a p—y. I knew it wasn’t that bad, I knew it wasn’t that bad,” Battle said. “I’ve been poked in the eye before. I’ve accidentally poked people in the eye before. And I’m sitting there looking at him, he’s fine. It’s really just one of those things where he was getting his ass whooped, he knew there was no way he was gonna win that fight. He knew beyond a shadow of doubt there was no way he was gonna win that fight, so he had an opportunity to act like he couldn’t see so that they would call it a no contest. I mean, a no contest is better than a loss – which is clearly what he was heading for.”

Battle also had a back-and-forth with Loosa’s brother, who was in attendance at the UFC Apex.

“It was his brother. His brother was trying to act tough,” Battle said. “I was like, ‘I’ll whoop your ass too, bro.’ Settle the f—k down, like your brother’s a professional fighter. I whooped his ass. You don’t think I’ll whoop you’re ass too? But whatever.

“You know what I’m saying? I would be the same way if one of my siblings had an altercation, I’d also be sitting there. No actually, I probably wouldn’t do that because I would be with my sibling, and I would be asking them why they quit in front of the world like that and embarrassed our family on ESPN. But that’s just me, you know what I’m saying? He decided to come talk s—t to me. Whatever, bro. I’m surprised they let him in the building, bro. But that’s just me.”

While Battle is ready to rematch Loosa, he believes his latest performance was enough to draw a ranked opponent next. While Battle is eyeing welterweight gatekeeper Neil Magny, he believes he is ready for a Top 10 opponent.

“Let me get like, Neil Magny. Neil Magny is the guy that you apparently got to fight to get into the rankings, you know what I’m saying. But really I’m feeling Top 10 and above.”