At Sunday's UFC Freedom 250, Ilia Topuria suffered his first career defeat, coming at the hands of Justin Gaethje, who battled, bloodied, and bruised him through four rounds of the main event.

It resulted in Gaethje, 37, becoming the undisputed UFC Lightweight Champion, and Topuria leaving to get checked on at a hospital due to his rough condition.

The 29-year-old known as "The Matador" later admitted his opponent took vision from one eye with his punches and strikes, and later he lost vision in his second eye. That likely caused a team member in his corner to call for the fight to end before the fifth round could start.

Following Gaethje's win, his coach spoke about Topuria not taking advantage of one specific moment in their battle, calling out the major mistake that lost him the fight.

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"I think that was a big mistake on Ilia's part, you know, going to the ground, because Justin was really hurt," Gaethje's coach Trevor Wittman shared.

"Justin's a very durable guy. He's very smart in situations. He knows when to take breaks," he also explained, indicating there were times he wanted him to "stop taking breaks" in the third and fourth rounds.

It seems that Gaethje being down on the mat gave him a major break, as he endured hard hits, prevented submissions, and recovered to continue fighting Topuria.

The moment Wittman was referencing arrived with over two minutes to go in the fight's second round, when Topuria landed a vicious liver shot on Gaethje.

In fact, Topuria was really unloading on him near the cage wall, and then got Gaethje down on the mat, but as many fans and commenters on X noted, he messed up in that moment.

"He had Justin like this and said let me go for a submission. The dumbest decision in title fight history," one X commenter said in reacting to that moment.

Another commented, "Should not have went on the ground. He lost the fight right there but kuddos to Justin he’s the true definition of a warrior."

"He didn't need to go to the ground. Gaethje was already fighting for his life at this point. Solid come back from Justin," another individual commented.

Topuria attempted to lock in several holds on the mat on Gaethje to make him submit, but was unable to secure anything. Most likely, Topuria would probably do things differently if he had that key moment back, because from then on, while he continued fighting for two more rounds, he became gassed out.

He's since shared an update, congratulating his opponent on the win, and even saying once he rests, recovers, and trains, he wants a rematch for another chance to defeat Gaethje.

More news: Ilia Topuria Breaks Silence on UFC Freedom 250 Loss to Justin Gaethje

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