“Not my night, no excuses. @RyanGarcia you’re a great champion,” Benn wrote on X, tagging the WBC welterweight champion who had knocked him down and forced the stoppage hours earlier.

The four-line post landed while Benn was still under observation after being sent for precautionary checks.

Referee Thomas Taylor waved the fight off at 1:25 of the second round after Garcia dropped Benn with a right hand and followed with an unanswered barrage against the ropes, according to Sky Sports. Garcia moved to 26-2 with 21 knockouts and completed his first defense of the WBC belt; Benn, who had never fought for a world title before, dropped to 25-2.

Dana White greenlights the hospital trip

The decision to send Benn to hospital was made ringside by Zuffa Boxing’s Dana White.

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“Yeah, we want to send Conor to the hospital, yes. He was just back here now, I don’t know if he went already or not. We definitely want to send him. I don’t mess with that stuff,” White told reporters.

Benn walked out of the ring under his own power, but the finish had been ugly. He was on the canvas 45 seconds into the round, got up, was pinned in the corner and hit with body and head shots before Taylor stepped in.

Garcia calls Teofimo Lopez into the ring

Teofimo Lopez, the newly crowned WBA welterweight titleholder, was sitting ringside. Garcia took the microphone and went straight at him.

“Teofimo, get that a– up here! Where you at? Unified time, where you at?” Garcia shouted, before adding: “You wanna get crazy, we can get crazy. I’ll beat your ass right now!”

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Lopez climbed toward the ring and was held back by security. In the post-fight press conference Garcia softened his tone and laid out the pitch for a WBC-WBA unification.

“I want to unify against Teofimo. I think that’s the move. He’s an entertaining dude, it’s gonna be a hell of a build up and he’s a good fighter too,” Garcia said.

Devin Haney, also at ringside, was named in a second callout.

What Benn does next

Benn’s post offered no protest about the timing of the stoppage, no reference to a rematch clause and no hint at where he goes from here. He walked into the arena on Saturday for his first world title fight and was out of it 1:25 into the second round.

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Benn’s next fight has not been announced.

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