Conor Benn suffered his first career stoppage loss on Saturday, 12 September 2026, when he was defeated by Ryan Garcia in the second round of their WBC welterweight title bout in Las Vegas. Benn, 29, was challenging for a world title for the first time.
Benn started aggressively but was dropped by a right hook in the second round. Although he beat the referee's count, the official quickly intervened as Garcia, 28, overwhelmed him.
This result marks Benn's second professional loss overall. His previous loss was an outpointing by Chris Eubank Jr in April 2025, a result Benn reversed in November of the same year. Eubank Jr, 36, reacted to Benn's recent defeat by tweeting: “Welcome to the ’fighting after cutting too much weight’ club… Enjoy.”
Eubank Jr's comment referenced Benn fighting at welterweight for the first time in two-and-a-half years, having previously fought Eubank Jr at middleweight and Regis Prograis at a 150lb catchweight in April.