Last Saturday, Daniel Cormier’s reign as UFC light heavyweight champion came to a crashing halt, as he was put down by a third-round head-kick dealt by his rival Jon Jones. Some 24 hours later, Cormier released a statement on his Instagram account, during which he congratulated Jones, and apologized to referee John McCarthy for initially protesting the stoppage.

First off, thank you all for the kind words. I have felt the support. Congratulations to Jon Jones and his team. They did a phenomenal job and got the victory. Also, to Big John McCarthy, I would like to apologize for acting up with you. I am thankful for the time you gave me to try and defend myself and stay in the fight. You are the best in the business for a reason. I also wanna thank my team and my coaches. I love you all from the bottom of my heart. Your time and energy is greatly appreciated. You guys did a wonderful job, I was ready. It’s a fist fight and things happen. Dana White and the @ufc, thank you for being the premiere organization in all of MMA. Again, congrats to Team Jones and JacksonWink. Love you all. I’ll see you soon. DC 📷@layziethesavage

A post shared by Daniel “DC” Cormier (@dc_mma) on Jul 30, 2017 at 7:36pm PDT

Since then, McCarthy has responded, praising Cormier for the way he has represented the sport, and for his skill inside the Octagon.

What did you think of John McCarthy’s stoppage in Jon Jones and Daniel Cormier’s UFC 214 fight?

This article first appeared on BJPenn.com on 7/31/2017.