Heavyweight contender Ante Delija is furious over what he calls a robbery in his fight with Waldo Cortes-Acosta at UFC Vegas 110, after a bizarre referee ruling turned a likely win into a knockout loss.
Three minutes into Round 1, Delija had Cortes-Acosta badly hurt and referee Mark Smith appeared to stop the fight. But moments later, chaos broke out — Cortes-Acosta claimed he was poked in the eye, and after a video review, Smith allowed the fight to resume. Seconds later, Cortes-Acosta landed a massive right hand to finish Delija. 💥
Delija released a five-point statement on Instagram, blasting the handling of the situation:
“I’m not sure if I hit him in the eye… The referee didn’t call time-out, he stopped the fight and declared me the winner — that decision cannot be changed later!”
He also pointed out that video replay was used after the stoppage, something not allowed by the rules:
“Replay used after the interruption — which rules do not allow!”
Adding insult to injury, Delija’s complaint comes just a week after his teammate Tom Aspinall was involved in another controversial eye-poke ending at UFC 321 against Ciryl Gane.
Delija — a former PFL champion who debuted in the UFC with a knockout win over Marcin Tybura — was seconds away from going 2-0 in the UFC before the chaos. Now, he’s demanding answers and accountability from the Nevada commission.
“The fight continued irregularly!” Delija wrote. “That’s not justice.” 🥊
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