Philippou considered quitting MMA before UFC Fight Night 40 win

CINCINNATI – After a five-fight winning streak that had him being talked about for title contention in the UFC’s middleweight division, Constantinos Philippou hit what he thought was rock bottom.

That’s about the only way to describe it when he believed he had fallen far enough to think about walking away from the sport for good after back-to-back losses.

But then he got the man-up treatment from his coaches. And then he got the call from the UFC to fight Lorenz Larkin. Now that he’s through with that fight, he can put a rough time in his career in the rearview mirror.

“Now, it’s all fun and games,” Philippou told MMAjunkie on Saturday night. “But it was a very stressful period the past six or seven months.”

Philippou (13-4 MMA, 6-3 UFC) on Saturday stopped Lorenz Larkin (14-2 MMA, 1-2 UFC) in the first round of their co-main event fight at UFC Fight Night 40 at U.S. Bank Arena in Cincinnati. (Check out the video highlights of his big win here.)

It was just the kind of win he needed to get his confidence back. After his five-fight streak, he was outpointed by Francis Carmont in a tough fight that saw him grinded out and unable to get anything going. He then booked the main event of UFC Fight Night 35 in January, but for the first time in his career, he was knocked out when Luke Rockhold kicked him in the midsection, then finished him off with his hands.

Prior to that, Philippou said he essentially thought he was beatable – but not able to be finished. He learned a tough lesson that he hoped would work in his favor on Saturday, and it did.

But not after some soul searching before getting the call to fight Larkin.

“I reached a point where I was doubting myself; I was doubting if I still wanted to fight,” Philippou said. “But I just want to thank Dana and the UFC for keeping faith. They gave me the co-main event and I’m still standing. I appreciate everything.

“Did you watch my last fight (against Rockhold)? Do you blame me? Two fights ago, I spent 12 out of 15 minutes laying on my back (against Carmont) and it was an awful experience for myself and the fans, and I was embarrassed. I came back and my last fight was worse – I got knocked out for the first time in my life. I started wondering if I could keep doing what I was doing. I didn’t know if I still had it in me. But my coaches stayed by my side. They basically told me to put on my big-boy pants and go fight. I put in the work, they helped me out and it worked.”

Boy, did it ever. Philippou and Larkin slugged it out for a little more than three minutes before the New Yorker landed a punch flush and was quick to follow it with two more, sending Larkin to his third loss in four fights. Larkin had been as much as about a 3-to-1 favorite in the fight.

But nothing cures what ails a fighter as much as a highlight-reel knockout, and that’s what Philippou got. That made the mood from a few months back a distant memory.

“I can’t describe it. Only fighters know how I feel right now, especially coming off back-to-back losses,” he said. “I can’t blame (the UFC), but losing this fight was probably going to send me home, and nobody could blame them because I showed nothing the last two fights. But with the way I won, I’m on top of the world right now.”

For complete coverage of UFC Fight Night 40, stay tuned to the UFC Events section of the site.