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While Cannonier was visibly wobbled prior to the stoppage, he does not believe he was in immediate danger of being stopped and he was deeply disappointed by Herzog’s call.
“When it happened, it was gut-wrenching, to say the least,” Cannonier said Monday on The MMA Hour. “I definitely took some time to collect myself, had to go back and rewatch the fight and really relive the whole thing all over again, and it was really gut-wrenching. It feels like the opportunity to do great things was pretty much stolen from me in that moment. It’s just something that, as fighters, we win or we lose and then we have to live with it, and it’s definitely not fun, it doesn’t get any easier every time.
“It doesn’t feel like I lost the fight. I just felt like it was taken from me, the opportunity to persevere, which is one thing I’ve done in a lot of my fights, and continue on and try to make good on the fight. Gut-wrenching is an understatement.”
The loss was a disappointing blow to Cannonier, who was coming off consecutive wins over Marvin Vettori and Sean Strickland. Cannonier defeated Strickland in December 2022, but Strickland surprisingly went on to capture the middleweight title the following year; with that win on his résumé, Cannonier was in good position to challenge for a championship himself, but now sees himself bumped back a few spots in the contenders’ line.
Cannonier was up on two of the judges’ scorecards heading in to Round 4, which makes the ending of the fight even tougher to stomach.
“When he hit me with the shot, it was a good shot,” Cannonier said. “Definitely took my equilibrium away, but I was definitely in recovery mode. I had my wits about me, I was able to create some distance and then turn to face my opponent. Of course, he did everything he was supposed to do. He kept the pressure on and tried to mount a good offense to try to finish the fight, but I was still there. My hands were up, I was covering up most of those shots.
“Especially in the final sequence, I even threw a counter strike, a nice clean counter strike that I think landed, and then I put my hands right back up to defend for whatever was coming next and that’s when the ref stepped in. Definitely the absolute worst time for him to step in, right after I throw a shot. I’m competently defending myself, my eyes are clear, I’m looking at my opponent, I’m creating space, I’m just intelligently trying to recover from that sequence. … It’s frustrating as hell to go back and watch it every time. I’ve watched it, like, seven or eight times. It’s frustrating as hell every time.
“I felt like I was definitely winning that fight up until that point,” he continued. “Nassourdine was definitely getting some momentum in that fight, in the later moments in the fight, but still at that moment I was winning the fight. … The opportunity to persevere was just snatched away from me, not to mention the chance to get those two checks. My second check, my win bonus check, and probably even that moment could have made it a Fight of the Night. Had the fight kept going, that moment could have made it a Fight of Night, so it could have been a potential performance bonus. I feel like the opportunity was just taken away from me as well as Nassourdine, the opportunity for him to have a clean finish, a clean win, for him to go in. Instead, we have this controversy that we have to deal with.”
read more: https://www.mmafighting.com/2024/6/...ville-loss-jason-herzog-got-finish-that-fight
“When it happened, it was gut-wrenching, to say the least,” Cannonier said Monday on The MMA Hour. “I definitely took some time to collect myself, had to go back and rewatch the fight and really relive the whole thing all over again, and it was really gut-wrenching. It feels like the opportunity to do great things was pretty much stolen from me in that moment. It’s just something that, as fighters, we win or we lose and then we have to live with it, and it’s definitely not fun, it doesn’t get any easier every time.
“It doesn’t feel like I lost the fight. I just felt like it was taken from me, the opportunity to persevere, which is one thing I’ve done in a lot of my fights, and continue on and try to make good on the fight. Gut-wrenching is an understatement.”
The loss was a disappointing blow to Cannonier, who was coming off consecutive wins over Marvin Vettori and Sean Strickland. Cannonier defeated Strickland in December 2022, but Strickland surprisingly went on to capture the middleweight title the following year; with that win on his résumé, Cannonier was in good position to challenge for a championship himself, but now sees himself bumped back a few spots in the contenders’ line.
Cannonier was up on two of the judges’ scorecards heading in to Round 4, which makes the ending of the fight even tougher to stomach.
“When he hit me with the shot, it was a good shot,” Cannonier said. “Definitely took my equilibrium away, but I was definitely in recovery mode. I had my wits about me, I was able to create some distance and then turn to face my opponent. Of course, he did everything he was supposed to do. He kept the pressure on and tried to mount a good offense to try to finish the fight, but I was still there. My hands were up, I was covering up most of those shots.
“Especially in the final sequence, I even threw a counter strike, a nice clean counter strike that I think landed, and then I put my hands right back up to defend for whatever was coming next and that’s when the ref stepped in. Definitely the absolute worst time for him to step in, right after I throw a shot. I’m competently defending myself, my eyes are clear, I’m looking at my opponent, I’m creating space, I’m just intelligently trying to recover from that sequence. … It’s frustrating as hell to go back and watch it every time. I’ve watched it, like, seven or eight times. It’s frustrating as hell every time.
“I felt like I was definitely winning that fight up until that point,” he continued. “Nassourdine was definitely getting some momentum in that fight, in the later moments in the fight, but still at that moment I was winning the fight. … The opportunity to persevere was just snatched away from me, not to mention the chance to get those two checks. My second check, my win bonus check, and probably even that moment could have made it a Fight of the Night. Had the fight kept going, that moment could have made it a Fight of Night, so it could have been a potential performance bonus. I feel like the opportunity was just taken away from me as well as Nassourdine, the opportunity for him to have a clean finish, a clean win, for him to go in. Instead, we have this controversy that we have to deal with.”
read more: https://www.mmafighting.com/2024/6/...ville-loss-jason-herzog-got-finish-that-fight
