LAS VEGAS – Ray Borg was humble and had nothing but praise for UFC flyweight champion Demetrious Johnson following a dominant defeat in his first title bout at UFC 216.

Borg (11-3 MMA, 5-3 UFC) entered Saturday’s pay-per-view co-headliner, which took place at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, with nothing but confidence. He said he would submit Johnson (27-2-1 MMA, 15-1-1 UFC) in the third round, but in the end it was Borg who was forced to tap out from one of the craziest armbar finishes to ever occur inside the octagon.

Although Borg felt ahead of the event that was more than ready for the challenge that is “Mighty Mouse,” reality did not play out in his favor. It’s been proven time and time again that there are levels to the sport of MMA, and Borg said he learned how much more there is to strive for.

“I felt like fighting D.J. was fighting my future self in a sense,” Borg told reporters at UFC 216’s post-fight news conference, which MMAjunkie attended. “I’m always two steps ahead of people, I’m always ahead of people. I’m always being sneaky with submissions. I truly thought I fought a future version of myself.”

Despite the disappointment of the result, Borg said he’s not going to be deterred. He’s seen what the peak of the sport looks like, and insisted he’s going to continue to strive to get there.

“It was definitely not the performance that I wanted at all,” Borg said. “Sharing the cage with him is something I can definitely put in my back pocket. Obviously I wasn’t on the receiving end of the win. I got away from my game plan a little bit.”

On top of handling the loss with class, Borg also showed some humility in the wake of the most high-profile fight of his career. Johnson ended the contest with one of the slickest slam-to-submission transitions ever, and it even impressed the man who fell victim to it.

“He hit the armbar mid-air,” Borg said. “He’s sneaky. I laughed at him a couple times because he pulled off some sneaky (expletive). It was a pretty cool sub. It wasn’t cool to be on the receiving end of it.”

Borg came to the post-fight news conference with his head held high, but in the immediate aftermath of the submission he was emotional about falling short of his dream. Borg said he’s not ashamed about crying over losing a fight, though, because that simply makes him aware of how passionate he is to succeed.

“When you want it so bad and you don’t get it, it’s heartbreaking,” Borg said. “My buddy told me, ‘If you don’t cry after a loss then you didn’t want it as much as you thought.’ I just wanted it. I really did. It wasn’t my night. It’s not my time. Since then, the only thing I can tell myself is I’m 24.”

For complete coverage of UFC 216, check out the UFC Events section of the site.