https://vine.co/v/OdvDbjpgJ9Q

The video lasts only a few seconds, a snapshot of misery and heartbreak in which you never even see the face of the man who’s doing all that suffering.

There’s Daniel Cormier, barefoot and shirtless, fresh off a crushing loss to the last person he ever wanted to lose to. There’s UFC heavyweight champion Cain Velasquez, a friend and a training partner, stopping in the hallway to embrace Cormier the way you might hug a loved one at a funeral.

You hear the squeak of sneakers on the floor, a short, muffled sob, and that’s all. Then it’s over, ready to start again, this endless loop of agony that you can’t quite turn away from.

What makes it so powerful? What, we want to see Cormier cry, or at least to know that he did? We got that much out of his emotional remarks at the post-fight press conference. Even posting it here on the website seems almost exploitative, but it also feels like something we couldn’t ignore.

What makes this backstage video (via the UFC’s Vine account) so different, I think, is how raw it seems. It’s like something we aren’t supposed to see and almost wish we hadn’t. It’s Cormier and Velasquez, friends in an intimate, difficult moment, and through some accident we stumbled into the room.

The honesty of that moment – this strong, impossibly tough guy crying in the arms of someone he trusts, who instinctively rubs his back like you might do with an inconsolable child – forces us to appreciate what this fight and this loss meant to Cormier.

Jon Jones hoped this moment would come, as he told the crew on the FOX Sports 1 post-fight show. He got what he wanted. Seeing it for yourself kind of makes you wish he hadn’t.

For more on UFC 182, check out the UFC Events section of the site.