“This is my first real defeat,” the Frenchman told a press conference after the tournament. “When I think about the loss against Francis, I don’t think of it as a big loss, but this time I lost for real and it was very painful. Now that is in the past and I have to move forward and look to the future. I’m going straight back to the gym.”
“Of course I’m disappointed. The biggest feeling right now is anger at yourself. We took the fight, it was not a short notice, but there was not too much time. We worked our hardest, spent a lot of time with the team, with sparring partners, and I’m really angry with myself. I invested so much in this preparation, but I could not show anything in the fight. I’m very angry”
Recall that the title fight, which became the main event of the number event, ended at around 2:04 of the first round with the victory of the American by guillotine choke.