“Look, he is the world champion, and I continue to say that he is the best in middleweight,” said Zhanibek’s coach Buddy McGirt. - I do not want to underestimate the merits of Bentley, because he agreed to this fight. I told Zhanibek before the fight: “He has everything to win, and he has nothing to lose. He will put everything on the line." But Zhanibek did what he had to do to defend his title."
“I thought I had a good fight,” Bentley said after the fight. “In the fifth round, my coach told me that we were losing on points and that I needed to pick up the pace, so I picked up the pace.”