UFC 219 was a tough night for Edson Barboza and now he has opened up on his latest fight.

There were a lot of fighters, fans, and media reports which were impressed by Khabib Nurmagomedov’s victory over Barboza at UFC 219.

As seen at the event on December 30th at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada, Nurmagomedov scored a ruthlessly dominant win over Barboza in the co-main event of the PPV portion of the card.

Now, just two weeks later, he is looking to get his next fight lined up. He’s taking steps in order for that to happen as he is already back in the gym and preparing to come back.

“I didn’t even take any medicine after the fight,” Barboza told MMAjunkie. “I have no injuries and no doubt I want to be back as soon as possible. Mid-March, the end of March, that would be very cool.

“It was tough,” Barboza said. “I’m still digesting it.

I have a very good head, but I wasn’t expecting to lose – especially the way it was. I really wasn’t. I was very well-trained. My coaches did everything right. It was me, in the moment of the fight, who wasn’t able to … I fell into his game.

“I spent 15 minutes in his game. That was the whole problem. My coaches, they all did everything right. They had the right game plan. But I couldn’t. It was hard.

It was hard, but in a good way. I’m trying to transform that hardship, that sadness the loss gave me, into hunger. I’m very hungry.”

Barboza revealed that has reviewed the tape. By doing so he understands that he played Nurmagomedov’s game in the fight but wouldn’t say that the title contender is unbeatable.

“I couldn’t impose my game,” Barboza said. “I’m a fighter – if they offered me a fight against him tomorrow, I’d take it again for sure. I’d train and give it my best so that what happened in our last fight didn’t happen again.

He does have various holes. But he’s able to get people to play into his game. And that’s the problem. That’s what happened to me. …

“It’s something I almost always do, too, getting them to play my game. But this time I couldn’t. It’s a fight. It’s a chess game. Sometimes the pieces go together and sometimes they don’t. In this last fight, the pieces didn’t. That’s his merit.”