Ange Loosa Denies Quitting vs. Bryan Battle, Will Be Examined by Eye Doctor

Ange Loosa insists that an eye poke from Bryan Battle left him unable to continue in their co-headlining clash at UFC Fight Night 239 on Saturday.

Battle appeared to be getting the better of Loosa before an unintentional eye poke from “The Butcher” brought the contest to a halt in the second round. Loosa told the cageside doctor that he couldn’t see, which led to the fight being declared a no contest.

Tensions ran high inside the Octagon, as Battle accused Loosa of quitting, insisting that the Congolese fighter could see with his eye. “The Last Ninja” has since addressed the situation, and he claims to still be dealing with his eye injury.

“[The UFC] wants to send me to an ophthalmologist,” Loosa told MMAjunkie.com. “I have to see another one back in Florida. We will check and see what’s going on, but I feel like there’s something inside [my eye]. It’s itchy and hurting a little bit. We’ll check the eye and see how it goes from there.”

Battle went off on Loosa at the post-fight media scrum, reiterating his accusations of quitting. Battle also admitted that he instigated the altercation by calling Loosa a “p—y” immediately after the fight ended. While Loosa admits Battle was winning the fight, he strongly denies having quit. Loosa was more disappointed about his own reaction during the heated altercation.

“To be honest, he started to fight well. I cannot take that from him,” Loosa said. “He fought well in the first round. He definitely won the first round. But I’m not afraid of him. I started slow. In the second round, I was ready to go. I would never, ever, ever stop the fight if I’m able to continue. I wasn’t able to see. The only thing I’m disappointed about me is to lose my cool. For all the people who know me, I’m always respectful and I never curse like that. But calling me the way he called me after the fight was just so disrespectful and I had to react. I just think that’s not the way things should go in mixed martial arts.”

In addition to Battle, fans have also blamed Loosa for the anti-climactic end to the bout. However, the fact that most fans have never fought helps Loosa ignore the negativity.

“The thing I see is that there’s a lot of people online coming after me, saying like, ‘Oh, you quit, you quit, you quit.’ But those people, most of them, 99% of them never fought,” Loosa said. “They don’t know how I felt. That’s what makes me feel like I’m fine. I’m OK. I’ll be back from that. I don’t take all this negativity. I have good people around me, and I know what I’m worth. It’s OK. I’m down today, but I’ll be back stronger.”

While Battle would ideally prefer a ranked opponent, “The Butcher” said he would be happy to oblige if the UFC wants a rematch. Based on the way their first meeting was going, Battle didn’t expect Loosa to want to fight again. However, Loosa believes a rematch is his only chance to set the record straight.

“The only way to fix that is to run it back… He didn’t win the fight,” Loosa said. “He didn’t lose the fight. Like I said, this is unfortunate. This is not the way I wanted this fight to end up. Yeah, if I was able to fight back, I’d fight back for sure. I wasn’t expecting to have the fight stop like that. I thought I’d maybe have more time, to be honest. But my eye was really damaged. If they give me the opportunity to fight him again, for sure I’m going to take it.”