Ilia Topuria is making no excuses for his loss to Justin Gaethje after absorbing a ton of damage before his coaches threw in the towel after the fourth round in the UFC White House main event.
In his first statement since leaving the octagon and getting sent straight to the hospital for treatment, the now former UFC lightweight champion paid homage to Gaethje for a job well done. Prior to the fight, Gaethje promised he was going to dish out a whole lot of punishment and Topuria admitted afterwards that’s exactly what happened.
“Justin, congratulations. You said you’d leave your mark on my face… and you did,” Topuria wrote on Instagram. “You took the sight from my right eye in the first round, and by the end of the second, from my left too.
“No excuses. I had one of the best camps of my life. I came in sharp, prepared, and ready. Last night was your night. That’s the nature of this game. Glory and pain walk side by side.”
Topuria got off to a fast start and nearly scored a finish in the second round but Gaethje gutted his way through a tough situation to survive until the final horn.
On the restart in the third, Gaethje completely took over, dropping Topuria to the canvas and busting up both of his eyes to the point where the ringside physician nearly stopped the contest.
The fight continued and Topuria found his second wind but he was still eating a lot of shots as Gaethje just kept coming after him in every exchange. In the final second of the fourth round, Gaethje blasted Topuria with a huge knee to the ribs on the ground.
Topuria hobbled back to his corner and his coaches saw enough to stop the fight to prevent him from any further harm. The fight served as the first loss of Topuria’s career.
While he didn’t reveal the nature of any injuries suffered in the fight, Topuria vowed to come back better when he’s cleared to fight again and he obviously hopes to cross paths with Gaethje in the future.
“I’ll heal. I’ll rest. And I’ll return stronger, wiser, and far more dangerous,” Topuria said. “And trust me… this story between us is far from over. We will have our rematch.”
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