Mateusz Gamrot Vows to Continue After Loss

Mateusz Gamrot has made clear that his UFC Vegas 120 loss will not be the final chapter of his fighting career. After Quillan Salkilld submitted him with a rear-naked choke in the first round of their main event, Gamrot responded with a lengthy Polish-language Instagram post centered on a firm message: he intends to keep going. The former KSW double champion did not minimize the setback, beginning his translated statement with the direct admission, “I lost.” But he paired that acknowledgement with a refusal to let one result determine the meaning of his career.

Salkilld secured the finish at 4:25 of Round 1 at Meta APEX in Las Vegas, ending the UFC Vegas 120 headliner by rear-naked choke. For Gamrot, the result was his second career submission defeat and moved his professional record to 26-5 with one no contest. His UFC record now stands at 9-5. Rather than announce retirement or step away from competition, Gamrot used his post to describe defeat as part of a longer process. He wrote that sport and life do not always provide what people work for, and that a loss can deliver a lesson instead of a raised hand. That distinction is central to his response: Gamrot accepted the result while insisting that his path remains open.

Gamrot says defeat will not define his story

Gamrot’s statement repeatedly returned to resilience. He said he had experienced both the top and the bottom during a career in which he has won, lost, fallen and returned. “And that’s why I know my journey isn’t over yet,” he wrote. The message did not identify a next opponent, a target date or a specific plan for his return. What it did establish is his intent to continue competing after the Salkilld defeat. The 35-year-old also framed the loss as a test of character rather than a verdict on his future. “You can defeat me in one evening, but you won’t take away my faith, my character, and my will to fight,” Gamrot wrote. He added that he believes there are great moments and unwritten chapters ahead. In the context of a first-round main-event submission, that is a clear public answer to any question over whether the result would signal an exit from the sport.

Gamrot closed by thanking his supporters and saying they would remain together until the end. His wording was personal, but its sporting implication is straightforward: he is not presenting the Salkilld loss as a conclusion. No bout has been announced for Gamrot, so the immediate competitive next step remains unconfirmed. Still, his own statement removes ambiguity over his stance on retirement. He wants another chapter. The setback also arrived after a recent sequence in which Gamrot alternated victories and defeats across six bouts. That run included a submission win over Esteban Ribovics in April, a result that followed Gamrot’s previous submission loss to Charles Oliveira at UFC Rio in October 2025. The Salkilld result restarted the rebuilding process described by the source, with Gamrot’s route back toward a title eliminator requiring further work.

Recent results put Gamrot’s response in context

The loss to Salkilld was not Gamrot’s first experience of having to respond after a difficult night. Following the Oliveira defeat, he rebounded by submitting Ribovics with an arm-triangle. His broader UFC career, which began in 2020, includes nine Octagon victories over names such as Arman Tsarukyan, Beneil Dariush, Jalin Turner, Rafael Fiziev and Rafael dos Anjos. That record does not erase the Salkilld result, nor did Gamrot try to portray it that way. Instead, his post placed the defeat alongside the full range of his career. Before the UFC, he held KSW lightweight and featherweight championships and left that promotion unbeaten. Across his professional career, he has eight knockout victories and six submission victories. Those details explain why his response focused on persistence: Gamrot is drawing on a career that has included titles, major UFC wins and prior recoveries, while acknowledging that he must now respond to another loss. The immediate facts are equally clear. Salkilld won the main event, improved to 13-1 overall and 6-0 in the UFC, and Gamrot has no announced next opponent. Gamrot’s public message supplies the confirmed next step in principle, if not in matchmaking terms: he plans to continue.

• Gamrot said the defeat does not end his story and that his journey is not over.
• Gamrot thanked his supporters and said he still has hunger for what lies ahead.

Mateusz Gamrot’s response to UFC Vegas 120 is not a promise of an immediate matchup, because none has been announced. It is a commitment to remain active after a painful first-round loss. By openly accepting the defeat while rejecting the idea that it defines him, Gamrot has set the tone for the next phase of his UFC run: another rebuild, with his stated will to fight intact.

Sources: MiddleEasy