In the end Julot says he never get paid to cheat?

When Julot meets Lefevre in the ring (in the first act) he tells Lefevre that he was paid to throw their previous fight. Many months later, at the desert fort, Julot now sees Lefevre as a fellow legionnaire and fesses up that he lied. In other words, Lefevre beat him fair & square in the ring.