Alessio Di Chirico threw fans and media off after his win over Joaquin Buckley at the first UFC event broadcast on the ABC network. His initial reaction to scoring the first-round knockout over someone who was the favorite to win, and known for one of the most viral knockouts of 2020 was as expected. He fell to his knees, showed concern for his opponent, then accepted the official victory announcement.
However, when Jon Anik went to interview him after the win, he expressed that he did not like how the media interviews only the winner, thanked fans for their support and walked away. He believes great fights are made by both competitors. The winner and the loser. He reiterated the sentiment to anyone that tried to speak to him after the victory. Videos posted by MMA Junkie and UFC Arabia showed him, humbly refuse interviews:
Apparently, it was not just media Di Chirico would not talk to. Add UFC president Dana White to that list. In the post-fight press conference, when asked about it even White seemed surprised by the reaction. White said, “I saw him in the back, and I walked by him and his team and was like, ‘Hey, congratulations.’ And they looked at me like, ‘What the f*ck you want?’” White said Di Chirico and his team looked at him as if they lost. White added, “I said man that’s an unhappy crew huh? What the hell is wrong with them?”
Di Chirico explained the next day where he was coming from on his Instagram account, thanking both White and Mick Maynard for a chance to correct the losing streak he was on before getting back in the win column. “I was in a three fight losing skid, a controversial skid cause I think one or two of that [sic] losses should have been W for me, but always a bad position to be in.” He added concern for being cut from the UFC since many fighters have been cut before after three losses, “I could have been cut before this match,” he wrote, “ a lot of guys have been cut with 2 or 3 losses in a row. Dana and Mick let me fight again, they gave me the opportunity to let you see that I can fight and beat the best guys in the UFC. So this is the time for a big thank you.”
