Formerly-undefeated UFC star apologizes after violent knockout loss at UFC Shanghai

It only took a few hours for a formerly-undefeated UFC prospect to share an update with fans after suffering a devastating first MMA loss.

Headlined by a light heavyweight main event where Johnny Walker beat the odds and stop Mingyang Zhang in the second round, UFC Shanghai also saw unbeaten flyweight Lone’er Kavanagh get a major step up in competition when he took on #15-ranked Charles Johnson.

Kavanagh came into the matchup as more than a two-to-one favorite, but late in the second round the 26-year-old got caught by a huge right hand that sent him to the canvas before Johnson dove in to secure the finish.

Lone'er Kavanagh Shares Message After First Loss

Johnson earned a well-deserved “Performance of the Night” bonus for his upset-win, while Kavanagh suffered his first loss since a 2015 amateur bout and saw a perfect start to his professional career come to an end in his tenth fight.

The flyweight could be forgiven if he’d wanted to take some time to process the setback, but Kavanagh took to Instagram just a few hours after the conclusion of UFC Shanghai to reflect on the loss and promise that he’s already looking ahead to the future.

Lone'er Kavanagh's Instagram story after UFC Shanghai. | (Instagram)

“Firstly, I just want to say I’m sorry. Secondly, I want to say thank you to my team and the amazing people around me. My team is amazing. It was my fault entirely. I made stupid mistakes and got caught. I’ll be back better than ever. This won’t happen again.”

Charles Johnson Rebounds With Upset-Win At UFC Shanghai

A member of Great Britain Top Team, Kavanagh closed out a seven-fight amateur career in 2019 when he scored back-to-back finishes to kick off his time as a professional MMA fighter.

The 26-year-old debuted for top UK MMA promotion Cage Warriors in 2022 with another stoppage-win. After bringing his record to 6-0, he met fellow undefeated flyweight prospect An Tuan Ho on Dana White’s Contender Series last year and won a UFC contract with a first-round knockout.

Charles Johnson and Lone'er Kavanagh during their UFC Shanghai flyweight bout. | (Zuffa LLC)

Kavanagh won his first two UFC outings against Jose Ochoa and Felipe dos Santos before coming up short against Johnson, who rejoined the flyweight rankings at #15 ahead of UFC Shanghai and also returned to the win column after having a four-fight run of victories halted by Ramazan Temirov in March.

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