Edmen Shahbazyan opens up on first career loss to Derek Brunson: “I used it to motivate me to come back better”

Edmen Shahbazyan has opened up on his first career loss to Derek Burnson last August.

At UFC Vegas 5, Shahbazyan and Brunson were promoted to the main event and were set to fight five rounds. Entering the scrap, many expected Shahbazyan to get an early KO, and so too did the rising star. However, after the first round, he began to gas out and suffered a third-round TKO loss.

After the fight, Shahbazyan didn’t do much media, but ahead of his UFC 262 return, he opened up to BJPENN.com about his first career loss.

“A lot. Of course, it was my first career loss and I use it as a big-time learning lesson. I was kind of going in there to hunt for the finish and look to finish him right away and I gassed myself out like that because I was looking for one shot to put him out. It’s experience, he is an experienced guy, too,” Shahbazyan said on an upcoming episode of Just Scrap Radio on BJPENN.com. “He weathered the storm, stayed calm, and eventually went in his favor. As far as learning from the fight, I learned a lot about myself and some things I needed to change up in training and it has been going really well now and I can’t wait to fight on May 15.

“I was looking to put him away. In my mind, I was like I got to put this guy away, I got to put this guy away. It wasn’t happening and by mid-second round is when I really gassed out,” Shahbazyan later added. “People think I was completely out in that fight, I wasn’t out. It looks like I’m out, but I was consciously there. Went to the doctor’s, I recited everything, I’m just exhausted. I remember every moment in the fight. When you get that adrenaline dump, you need at least 20-30 minutes to recover from.”

Image Credit: Edmen Shahbazyan’s Instagram

Although losing sucks, Edmen Shahbazyan says it is a good thing it happened this early in his career. He says it was a massive learning experience and is using the loss to motivate him.

“Everybody loses at some point and I’m happy this happened and I took it as a big-time learning lesson,” Shahbazyan said. “I wasn’t so down on the loss and I used it to motivate me to come back better and work on myself.”

Even though Shahbazyan is 11-1 and ranked in the middleweight division at just 23-years-old, he heard all the talk of leaving his camp. His head coach, of course, is Edmond Tarverdyan, who many have criticized. Yet, Shahbazyan says he had no thought of changing his camp.

“I mean, that is just the MMA fans who switch up on you with a win or a loss,” Shahbazyan said. “In my camp, we made a lot of adjustments to specific training. We have made a lot of switches on that part.”

Ultimately, Shahbazyan has nothing but praise for Brunson and says he has no excuses

“No excuses. I lost my last fight fair and square, I gassed myself out and that’s pretty much it,” Shahbazyan concluded. “No excuses.”

What do you make of Edmen Shahbazyan’s comments on his first career loss?