"There was some kind of mental block" - Tagir Khalilov says his mindset just wasn't there vs Kongthoranee at ONE 169

Tagir Khalilov returned to action under the ONE Championship banner at one of the biggest cards of the year. His motivation for ONE 169 on Nov. 8 was returning to the win column, but it was always a tough encounter against Kongthoranee Sor Sommai.

Despite the focus and hard work that he put into his preparations, Khalilov came up short following a one-sided decision victory for his opponent.

The Thai striker was on point from the start to the finish and controlled the fight with his excellent distance management and shot selection.

In a recent interview with ONE Championship, Khalilov spoke openly about his recent setback, highlighting what went wrong for him inside Lumpinee Stadium in Bangkok, Thailand. He admitted that despite knowing that he needed to change the course of the fight by closing the gap on his opponent, he wasn't able to do so:

"Well, first of all, I don't want to make excuses, but I did break my hand in the first round. There was some kind of mental block during the fight, I couldn't quite understand what was happening to me. I knew it needed to push, that I needed to make a move, but for some reason, I didn't."

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Tagir Khalilov will come back stronger from this experience

Losing a high-level fight like this is never desirable but for a competitor like Tagir Khalilov, he will keep improving as a result. The 31-year-old Russian has faced some of the very best during his time in ONE Championship and though beating Kongthoranee would've been a big statement, there's also no shame in losing to an opponent as skilled as the Sor Sommai athlete.

Khalilov has already been able to look at his performance with an honest mindset which will allow him to take lessons from this fight, return to the drawing board, and get back to work.

ONE Championship fans can rewatch all the action from ONE 169 via Prime Video for North American viewers.