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<\/a> before Johnson dove in to secure the finish.<\/p>\n Johnson earned a well-deserved \u201cPerformance of the Night\u201d 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. <\/p>\n READ MORE: UFC confirms banger debut fight for two-division MMA champion at UFC Paris<\/a><\/p>\n The flyweight could be forgiven if he\u2019d wanted to take some time to process the setback, but Kavanagh took to Instagram<\/a> just a few hours after the conclusion of UFC Shanghai<\/a> to reflect on the loss and promise that he\u2019s already looking ahead to the future. <\/p>\n Lone’er Kavanagh’s Instagram story after UFC Shanghai. \/ (Instagram)<\/p>\n \u201cFirstly, I just want to say I\u2019m 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\u2019ll be back better than ever. This won\u2019t happen again.\u201d<\/p>\n 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. <\/p>\n READ MORE: UFC reveals stacked main card for Alex Pereira’s next fight<\/a><\/p>\n The 26-year-old debuted for top UK MMA promotion Cage Warriors <\/a>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\u2019s Contender Series <\/a>last year and won a UFC contract with a first-round knockout. <\/p>\n Charles Johnson and Lone’er Kavanagh during their UFC Shanghai flyweight bout. \/ (Zuffa LLC)<\/p>\n 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. <\/p>\n \u2022 Why Daniel Cormier says Conor McGregor is teasing a UFC return<\/a><\/p>\n \u2022 Top contender cut from UFC this week already set for new fight<\/a><\/p>\n \u2022 UFC hopeful returns from 3 year hiatus to secure 43-second KO<\/a><\/p>\n \u2022 Jon Jones lashes out at UFC rival for disputing his MMA GOAT status<\/a><\/p>\n Stick with MMAKnockout<\/a> for more FREE coverage of the UFC and MMA.<\/p>\n Follow MMAKnockout on Facebook<\/a>, Twitter<\/a>, and Instagram<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
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