Knight didn’t go easy on himself after putting in a terrible performance against Marcin Prachnio at the UFC APEX.
Saturday’s UFC Vegas 69 featured a light heavyweight match-up between Marcin Prachnio and William Knight, but the fight failed to generate fireworks. As it stands, it will go down in memory as one of the worst fights of the year.
Knight looked listless and unwilling to engage. Prachnio responded to that energy by staying just out of range and peppering Knight’s legs with kicks. Judges would hand the win to Prachnio 30-27 on all three scorecards, and fans would hound Knight on social media over his lack of aggression.
Following the bout, “The Knightmare” released a statement via Instagram apologizing for the performance. The caption read “IDK what was going on I froze up like a b— and I take 100% responsibility for that.”
“At the end of the day, I went out there, froze up, I didn’t do my part, I lost the fight,” he said. “I lost that fight. You guys didn’t lose that fight. I lost that fight.”
“Some of y’all want me to win, some of y’all bet on me, I understand. I completely get it. In life, human beings aren’t perfect, but I’m taking ownership of my actions because I didn’t do s—. Exactly what happened: I stood there, I froze, and I take full responsibility.”
“I know what I must do for my next fight,” Knight continued. “I know what I need to do, and I understand. All these crazy ass inboxes of threats, all of these inboxes of disrespect, I get it. Y’all have a right to be angry. I read messages, y’all threatening my life, y’all talking crazy, saying I don’t belong in the UFC, all of this other stuff, but when I was undefeated for three years, y’all were riding the wave.”
“At the end of the day I have my legit fans, my legit people, I have you guys. For the rest of you that are just here for the ride to watch me fall, you got what you wanted.”
Knight is on a three-fight losing streak, and Saturday marked his first bout since an April 2022 TKO loss to Devin Clark. Perhaps it was that memory combined with ring rust that led to him being unable to pull the trigger. Whatever the case, he’ll be lucky to get another shot in the Octagon after that stinker of a fight.