Watch: Israel Adesanya and CKB crew tell an upset Kai Kara-France to keep his head high after UFC 277 loss

Kai Kara-France suffered a third-round TKO loss against Brandon Moreno at UFC 277 [left image via Getty; right image via @espnmma on Twitter]

Kai Kara-France and Brandon Moreno's rematch for the interim flyweight title turned out to be a back-and-forth entertaining clash for as long as it lasted. Moreno and Kara-France co-headlined the recent UFC 277 pay-per-view on July 30.

After competitive action over three rounds, with just over 30 seconds remaining on the clock in the third, a perfectly timed kick to the liver by Moreno put Kara-France down. Moreno smelled blood and immediately pounced on his counterpart to land vicious ground-and-pound strikes before the referee stepped in to end the contest.

That was amazing from Brandon Moreno to finish Kai Kara France.
#UFC277 https://t.co/UTkonTeMTE

Moreno and Kara-France also won Fight of the Night honors for their incredible performance at UFC 277. Following the fight, the New Zealander's City Kickboxing teammate Israel Adesanya was seen consoling him. The middleweight champion embraced the understandably dejected-looking 29-year-old, telling him to keep his "head high" even in defeat.

Adesanya also seemed to tell him that he was winning the fight until he got hit with the body kick that led to the TKO stoppage. Another member of the CKB crew screamed "you're still a f***ing champion," trying to cheer up his teammate.

Watch the heartwarming clip below:

"You're still a f---ing champion."

Nothing but love for Kai Kara-France from the City Kickboxing crew after his loss at #UFC277. https://t.co/Psy2dhk0z0

Kai Kara-France has earned Brandon Moreno's respect

Brandon Moreno is full of respect for Kai Kara-France following their rematch at UFC 277. Before fighting 'Don't Blink', Moreno fought reigning champ Deiveson Figueiredo thrice in a row and the build-up to all three fights were fiesty.

The Brazilian indulged in a lot of trash talk with Moreno ahead of the trilogy fight and the rivalry seemingly became somewhat personal for both men.

Moreno claimed that it was a welcome change for him to see Kara-France being respectful towards him in the build-up to the fight, as well as after it. During the post-fight press conference following the event, Moreno said:

"I have a lot of respect for Kai Kara-France and you know, I had three fights in a row with with Deiveson where he started to throw me a lot of trash talk and then I started to get angry and I started to to answer back but it was very refreshing to be in some interview like, in sky or whatever, when the guy was like very respectful with me."

Catch the interview below:

Moreno is expected to fight Deiveson Figueiredo in a title-unification bout next. It will be their fourth fight against one another.

WE'VE GOT A FIGHT. 🏆

For the first time, the quadrilogy will go down between Figueiredo & Moreno for all the gold! #UFC277 https://t.co/q78p9uJY9f