Former UFC heavyweight champion Junior dos Santos is sorry about the way his fight with Francis Ngannou turned out.
Former heavyweight champion Junior dos Santos has no excuses for his 71-second TKO loss to Francis Ngannou at UFC Minneapolis.
In a lengthy Instagram post, ‘Cigano’ apologized to his fans for making a mistake that ultimately cost him the fight at the UFC on ESPN 3’s headlined, on June 29, but made sure not to take away Ngannou’s credit for capitalizing on his error and quickly finishing the fight.
“Guys, first of all I want to thank everybody for your support,” dos Santos said. “I’m sorry the show was short this time, and without a great result for us. I’ve been on top of this sport and weight class for over a decade, and I plan to be here for a long time still. I love fighting, I love my life, and I’m really grateful for every opportunity I have to grow and evolve.”
“The climb is tough and long, as you all know and sometimes—like tonight—months of perfect preparation and strategy are overshadowed by a millisecond’s mistake. There isn’t much to say now other than to congratulate Francis Ngannou for capitalizing so effectively on my mistake.”
Before the loss, Junior dos Santos was on a three-fight winning streak, with victories over the likes of Blagoy Ivanov, Tai Tuivasa and most recently Derrick Lewis back in March. Before his encounter with Ngannou, Cigano’s last loss happened in May 2017, when he was TKO’d by Stipe Miocic in a rematch for the UFC heavyweight belt.