Cannonnier broke the silence and commented on the defeat to Imawowu

"When it happened, I felt just awful and it took me a while to get myself together, watch the fight and get over it again," Cannonier told Ariel Helwani. "It was really excruciating. It felt like my opportunity to do great things was stolen from me. I don't feel like I lost the fight - I feel like it was taken away from me. I was robbed of the opportunity to be patient, which I usually do in my fights, and get back in the fight. It was painful to say the least, to put it mildly."