PFL Charlotte Bryan Battle vs. Dalton Rosta Breakdown From Johnny Eblen
PFL Austin saw Johnny Eblen capture interim middleweight title gold, and he is steadily eyeing another big bout within an active PFL middleweight division set for tonight. Eblen’s previous opponent Bryan Battle will be taking on a teammate of Eblen’s in Dalton Rosta, with Battle vs. Rosta headlining PFL Charlotte on August 7th.
At the PFL San Diego press event promoting the PFL Summer Series, the now-interim 185-pound champion gave an assessment at the press conference of Rosta versus Battle whereby Battle mentioned he felt like Eblen was in a roundabout way saying that Battle was going to knock Rosta out if it stays a standup fight. Responding to all of that, Eblen said [via Bowks Talking Bouts],
“Thad [Jean] was like what are you beating around the bush for? I’m like I’m trying to be analytical about it and I haven’t really thought much about the fight, honestly. Yeah, cuz it’s like I beat the guy [Bryan Battle] and like I train with Dalton [Rosta]. It’s like I don’t know, man. Also Dalton’s a teammate of mine and it’s like Dalton said, if he comes out and fights a good fight, he’s pretty damn good. But sometimes in the heat of the moment, you don’t make the right decisions and it can turn into a coin flip.”
“That’s what he did in his last fight. I mean it’s pretty easy to do that in the moment. So just got to see what Dalton shows up that night. Then obviously for Bryan, no one’s ever done that to [him], what I did to Bryan. No one has ever done that to him. So I don’t know what that did to his confidence. I don’t know if he’s motivated to get back in there. He seems motivated. So let’s see how Bryan shows up. I think it’s an interesting fight and I’m looking forward to watching it.”
PFL’s middleweight class is deep, and while Eblen keeps it analytical, he’s also digging trash talk more
With Dalton Rosta vs. Bryan Battle topping a card that also showcases Aaron Jeffery vs. Josh Silveira while also referencing Eblen’s own looming title unification bout with champ/ ex-foe Costello Van Steenis as a multi pronged effort to illustrate how the PFL middleweight division is in a golden era, Eblen stated [via Bowks Talking Bouts],
“Yeah, I think the middleweight division right now is the biggest division in the PFL. Before I lost though, it was kind of dwindling I felt like. But since that loss, since Costello [Van Steenis] became another name, they got Bryan [Battle] back in, you have more interesting matchups now. You have a big fight you can make in me and Costello. So, I think that really pumped up the division.”
“Obviously, you have Fabian [Edwards] in there. He’s fought me and Costello. Lost to me twice, beat Costello once and he’s lost to Costello in the most recent outing. No, I think we have a lot of talent at middleweight. Yeah, PFL is really investing a lot of their resources and time in promoting the middleweight division right now.”
Also, in terms of maintaining a confluence between that more tempered analytical side he has but also engaging in a bit of the bombastic trash talk that tends to draw attention in this sport, Eblen quipped [via Bowks Talking Bouts],
“Maybe. I’m still analytical when it comes down to it. But maybe I’m having a little bit more fun with it and talking a little bit more crap because it’s fun for me. I think I take my job pretty seriously. Sometimes, I think being analytical constantly is I feel like being very serious constantly. So, I think being able to banter, being able to break from that analytical mode is kind of nice every once in a while.”
