James Gallagher suffered a devastating defeat to Patchy Mix at Bellator 270 on Friday night.
Gallagher - who was hoping to secure a shot at the bantamweight title - was finished by a guillotine choke early in the third round at Dublin's 3Arena.
The Irish fighter faced an opponent who weighed in almost 2lbs overweight for the bout - turning the contest into a catchweight bout and forcing Mix to forfeit a percentage of his purse to Gallagher as penalty.
The Strabanimal labelled Mix mentally "weak" following Thursday’s weigh-in, adding: “He’s already beat."
But Mix produced the goods on the night to stop Gallagher in the third.
Speaking afterwards, Mix said: "This crowd is crazy, I underplayed it before, but it's like a movie man.
"I drew energy from the crowd but they made me nervous. I came out really flat in the first round.
"But credit to James, we sold out this fight. I have mad respect for him, for his coaches, I know I came in overweight before.
"Happy birthday mum, it's my mum's birthday, I love you mum."
Sign up to our free sports newsletter to get the latest headlines to your inbox.
