Despite recent 1-3 record, UFC Fight Night 41's Mark Munoz plans to fight on

BERLIN – Middleweight Mark Munoz isn’t hanging up his gloves after a quick loss to Gegard Mousasi at Saturday’s UFC Fight Night 41.

Despite dropping his third fight in four outings, Munoz said he’ll soldier on.

“You’ve just go to pick up the pieces and keep going,” he said at the post-event press conference, which took place at O2 World Berlin in Germany. “It was a tough loss, but I think it doesn’t matter how many times you fall, but it’s how many times you pick yourself back up after a loss or a failure.

“So that’s what I’ll do.”

Munoz (13-5 MMA, 8-5 UFC), 36, announced prior to fighting Mousasi (35-4-2 MMA, 2-1 UFC) that he would try to win the bout using his wrestling, and he followed through from the opening bell of the headlining fight on FOX Sports 1. Unfortunately for him, Mousasi came well prepared and stuffed his initial takedown attempts.

When it seemed he would finally get the fight to the ground, Mousasi expertly reversed position as the two fell to the mat. The former Strikeforce and DREAM champion also punished Munoz with elbows and forced him to give his back, which led to a submission in the first round.

Mousasi got back to the winner’s circle after a decision loss to No. 1 contender Lyoto Machida, while Munoz once again went back to the drawing board.

Prior to the bout, Munoz told USA TODAY Sports he had hired a mental coach to ensure he was focused in the cage.

Following a highly publicized battle with depression, which he said was caused by a series of injuries and a loss to now-champ Chris Weidman, Munoz rebounded in a big way when he dominated Tim Boetsch en route to decision at UFC 162. But a head kick knockout at the hands of Machida again was a sobering reality check.

Prior to his loss to Weidman, Munoz won four straight and was part of many fans’ conversations about the next title contender.

While his goal of winning a UFC belt just faded further into the distance, Munoz won’t be letting it expire.

For complete coverage of UFC Fight Night 41, stay tuned to the UFC Events section of the site.