ONE Championship: Pieter Buist shares lessons after losing to Timofey Nastyukhin

Pieter Buist came to ONE Championship revving up his engine. 'The Archangel' was able to barrel through his first three opponents in Asia's biggest MMA promotion. That momentum was halted as he tasted a loss against Timofey Nastyukhin.

Both fighters engaged during the ONE Championship - Inside the Matrix 2 fight card back in October 2020. Buist lost the fight via unanimous decision, snapping his eight-fight winning streak.

The 33-year-old fighter from the Netherlands admitted that the loss was tough to swallow. After his emotions subsided, Buist saw the silver lining and chose to focus on improving his skills and moving forward in his MMA career.

"At first, I saw the loss as a bad thing but now I see the loss as one of the best lessons in my life. I'm more hungry. I'm happy to be here. I’m not complaining about anything. I'm thankful for everything. I truly believe that I'm blessed to be here," said Buist in an interview with ONE Championship.

Buist's opponent was no joke as Nastyukhin is widely regarded as one of the strongest kickers and punchers in ONE Championship. The Russian lightweight fighter knocked out UFC veteran Eddie Alvarez back in March 2019 during ONE Championship - A New Era.

Even with the loss, Buist still has confidence in himself and he feels blessed to be able to compete in ONE Championship.

"I know I'm the best fighter that ONE has to offer in my division. I really believe that," said Buist. "The only thing I have to do is to show it and to enjoy the moment and not being busy with what's coming next or what happened in the past. I’m really living in the now."

Losing is a good thing that any athlete in ONE Championship or in general should experience

The last time Buist experienced a defeat prior to his loss to Nastyukhin was back in August 2016. Moving on to different MMA promotions and finding a home in ONE Championship, he feels that fighters should take in losses to become mentally stronger.

"I don’t believe in champions who never lost. I look up to the champions that have lost a couple of times in their career and bounced back, those are the real champions," Buist said. That’s why I always knew that I would be that kind of champion. I’m not aiming to have a career where I would never be beaten. I’m aiming to be the best and when I fall, I come back stronger.

Buist will be fighting once again in ONE: NextGen III and will go up against Ruslan Emilbek Uulu from Kyrgyzstan. He will be coming in with a 16-5 professional MMA record and it will be his fifth fight in ONE Championship.