Jimmie Rivera was quick to break his silence following a 33-second knockout loss to Marlon Moraes.
Last night (June 1), Rivera headlined an Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) card for the first time in his career. “El Terror” took on Moraes in a potential title eliminator. Things didn’t go Rivera’s way as he was on the receiving end of a head kick. Moares followed it up with ground-and-pound.
There was a lot of bad blood going into the bout, but most of it was centered around Rivera’s dislike for Moraes’ manager Ali Abdelaziz. Rivera said Abdelaziz was disrespectful to his wife and took things too far. There was even a backstage altercation between the two following UFC Utica.
Nonetheless, Rivera is willing to put those issues to the side and move on. He took to Twitter to show respect to Moraes:
Thank you everyone for the support. Wasn’t my night. Hats off to Marlon. Just means that I need to get back on that horse and try again! #NQS #darkhorse
— Jimmie Rivera (@JimmieRivera135) June 2, 2018
This is Rivera’s first loss since Nov. 2008. His record falls to 21-2. Rivera was riding a 20-fight winning streak. Rivera is the fourth ranked UFC bantamweight, but he’s sure to slide down in the rankings by at least one spot.
MMANews.com provided live coverage of UFC Utica. Peep the homepage for results and highlights.
Do you think Jimmie Rivera will bounce back?
