If you watched any part of the recent all-star eighth season of MTV’s resurrected America’s Best Dance Crew, you probably rolled your eyes when the winner (by public vote) was announced during Saturday’s finale. Las Vegas’ own b-boy mega squad Super Cr3w, winners of season 2 in 2008 and back to battle again, dominated the highly charged competition but finished third in the final tally.

Simply put, we was robbed. But we still got to see some of our city’s most talented and innovative dancers doing what they do best, and the whole world got to see it, too. We caught up with veteran breaker Ronnie Abaldonado, one of the Cr3w’s senior members who also runs two Distrct Dance studios in town, just two days after the ABDC experience.

It seemed to come as a shock to you guys and the other two teams, winners Quest Crew and newbies Kinjaz, when you didn’t get voted into the final two. Yeah, it was. Everyone at MTV, all the production people, everyone was rooting for us, but it just came down to social media and who had the bigger following. Super Cr3w has been working with the Jabbawockeez show for the past five years in Vegas, so our fan base has kinda declined. Our brand isn’t as strong as it was on the show seven years ago.

But you guys were so consistently thrilling all season long and got a lot of love from judges and fans. We’re humbled by that. A lot of people have said we dominated the whole season. We knew we were capable and had high expectations but we ended up going above those expectations. This season, no question, everyone was amazing. It was a true challenge and a great experience.

Behind the scenes, how was this different from the Cr3w’s first time on ABDC? In our first season, we just came in as competitors. We didn’t really have control over a lot of things, like music and wardrobe. You got a challenge and they dressed you up how they wanted, which wasn’t too bad for us but other crews hated some of the stuff they were wearing. We were just rolling with the punches. This time—which was only six episodes, like half as long—we were treated like champions. We had more freedom but more responsibility. It felt like going from high school to college. It was intense.

You had two new members on the squad this time around, Fabiano “Neguin” Lopes and Gibrahimer “Little G” Tovar. Those two have been part of the Red Bull BC One tours for a while, and I organize those events in Vegas and flew them out to Vegas to judge a competition. They were able to vibe with Super Cr3w and we always talked about recruiting them because they’d contribute so much, a lot of personality and work ethic-wise, too. When the ABDC thing came around, it was the perfect time to bring them in. Neguin was kind of our MVP. He really was singled out a lot by the judges. He’s really on a different level.

But with our crew, everyone had their moments. One of the crazy things people don’t know is that Ben [Honrubia] left during filming to compete in Red Bull in Orlando. He flew to Orlando and made the top two and then flew back the next day to rehearse. Just unbelievable.

You guys have been doing this for a minute. Super Cr3w was not created for TV. We’ve been battling together and traveling the world together for a while. We’ve been a crew for 15 years.

You’ll probably get some new and interesting opportunities after such a strong showing. What’s next? We’re definitely trying to figure that out, trying to rebrand Super Cr3w and find new ways to inspire people. We really were the underdogs and we didn’t win the grand prize, but I believe things happen for a reason. We’re going to continue to teach and travel and we’re still going to work with Jabbawockeez as that show is moving to MGM Grand. We want to do more for the Vegas community, too, really push the culture.