Here’s what most people saw: For three rounds, Kyle Bochniak gets punched and kneed and kicked from every possible angle, until he’s bloodied and bruised and clearly headed to a decision loss against rising featherweight prospect Zabit Magomedsharipov.

Here’s what was going on inside Bochniak’s head at the time: This is the best night of my life.

It started backstage at UFC 223 in Brooklyn, N.Y. As he warmed up in a Barclays Center locker room, Bochniak felt unusually calm – like, maybe a little too calm. He was walking around and yawning, waiting for nerves that never came.

And he knew he was supposed to be nervous. Here he was, about to fight this killer out of Dagestan that everyone was so hot on, and on the pay-per-view portion of one of the year’s biggest UFC events. That was worth getting nervous for, and he knew it. But he was just so relaxed.

“It was weird,” Bochniak told MMAjunkie. “It was like a dream. But when I got in the cage, and I saw him in there I just thought I don’t (expletive) care. I actually started screaming it, ‘I don’t (expletive) care!’”

Bochniak (8-3 MMA, 2-3 UFC) entered the cage that night with a pretty simple plan. He knew Magomedsharipov (15-1 MMA, 3-0 UFC) was good in every aspect of the sport, but he also knew that anybody was bound to break if you could just keep pressuring them. So that’s what Bochniak did.

When Magomedsharipov stung him with uppercuts, Bochniak kept coming forward. When the Dagestani fighter thumped him with kicks and knees, Bochniak charged ahead for more. Through it all, he felt calm. He actually felt good.

“I was just in the most peaceful state, having fun, feeling no pain,” Bochniak said. “It wasn’t like an adrenaline rush thing, either. I was very calm. I could hear my corner, his corner. I was having a real good time. I just wanted to keep coming forward to show him that he couldn’t hurt me.”

By the final round of the fight, there was some reason to think that this strategy might pay off. Bochniak kept walking Magomedsharipov down, wiping away the blood and asking for more. The crowd was eating it up. The commentators were impressed and delighted.

But as time wound down, Bochniak saw Magomedsharipov sneak a glance at the clock. This guy wanted the fight to hurry up and be over already. His strategy was working. It just worked too late.

“I felt the momentum change then,” Bochniak said. “I could really feel it. But then pretty soon after that, the ref stepped in and said ‘time’ and that was it. If I had one more round, or if it was a battle to the death, I think I would have won. And that’s what I wanted.”

Bochniak wasn’t surprised when all three judges scored the fight for Magomedsharipov. At the same time, he couldn’t help but feel good about his performance.

“When I was in that cage, I felt like I was more free than I’ve ever been,” Bochniak said. “I wasn’t even thinking about winning or losing. It was just him trying to hurt me, and me trying to hurt him.”

Bochniak felt better than he had in all his previous fights – even the two UFC fights he’d won – so how disappointed was he supposed to be with the result? Even later, sitting at the hospital and getting stitches on his face, staples in his head, plus a diagnosis of a “minor orbital fracture,” he couldn’t help but be pleased.

That feeling only increased when he heard that his bout with Magomedsharipov had won the “Fight of the Night” bonus worth an extra $50,0000. It wasn’t until a few days later that the facts of the situation began to intrude on his happiness.

“Now it’s starting to hit me: I lost, I’m 2-3 in the UFC, and there’s no gray area there,” Bochniak said. “On paper, I’m 2-3 in the UFC. But the support I’ve been getting on social media has been incredible. I haven’t gotten one bad comment. I lost that fight, but my stock has gone up. That’s a good feeling, to be recognized that way.”

In fact, for Bochniak, it’s all good feelings coming out of that fight. Even with the stitches and staples and facial fractures, he can’t help but look back on it as a positive experience.

He also can’t wait for the next one.

“I hope it’s soon,” he said.

For complete coverage of UFC 223, check out the UFC Events section of the site.