Rafael Dos Anjos breaks silence following UFC 225

The original plan for UFC 225 was to have two title fights atop the stacked night of fights. Unfortunately, one ended up not being over a championship but the other went along as planned.

In UFC 225’s co-main event this past Saturday, former UFC lightweight champion, Rafael Dos Anjos took on Colby Covington in search of his fourth straight win at 170 pounds and an interim title to boot.

Being the betting favorite for pretty much the entirety of the time leading up to the fight until fight night itself, Dos Anjos had become the underdog and as the fight began it showed.

Covington applied a relentless and smothering pace that caught most viewers off guard. There were very few times where the outspoken American wasn’t pushing forward applying pressure.

In the end, Covington would win by unanimous decision to be crowned the new interim champion. Dos Anjos shared his first thoughts on Instagram today since the loss.

https://www.instagram.com/p/Bj5cKV9gNNC/?taken-by=rdosanjosmma

Hey guys. I want to thank you all for the messages and the support. I am a very competitive guy and I confess I never know how to handle defeat. I did my best inside the Octagon, I had the support of the best coaches in the world. The result was not mine, but nothing will make me give up. I am a challenge driven guy and this is just another one in my way. In 2014, after the fight against Khabib [Nurmagomedov], I worked very hard, and with God’s blessing, 11 months later I became the Lightweight champion. This time it won’t be any different. I got the chance to fight for the interim belt after only three fights in the welterweight division. My path in this weight class has just started. I know what I am capable of, I know what I can achieve. I won’t give up my dreams because of the first obstacle in this division. Now it’s time to see what did not work, improve, and get back to my path to the top. God knows everything. Bad guys win sometimes in real life, but at the end, the good guys always win. You can lose the battle, but never the war. Thank God I have the best friends and family I could ask for. I’ll be back soon stronger than ever. You’ll see!

Dos Anjos’ last loss prior to this one came in 2016 when he fought a future interim champion in Tony Ferguson at lightweight. The Covington loss was only Dos Anjos’ third out of 11 fights since 2014.

This article first appeared on BJPenn.com on 6/11/2018.