UFC Fight Night: Garcia vs. Onama went down last night from the Apex in Las Vegas, Nevada, and it was another week where questionable officiating marred one of the fights on the main card.
The fight in question was the heavyweight co-main between No. 6 ranked Waldo Cortes-Acosta and No. 9 ranked Ante Delija. Delija seemed to finish Cortes-Acosta via strikes halfway through the first round, only for instant replay to determine there had been an eye poke from Delija.
After a few minutes of confusion,
the fight was restarted and Cortes-Acosta swarmed Delija, knocking him out. Now Delija is protesting the loss and saying he was robbed.
“I’m not sure if I hit him in the eye,” Delija wrote in an Instagram Story. “I think it’s near the eye and of course I want a video where you can see that sting correctly!”
“The referee did not show ‘time-out,’ but stopped the fight and therefore declared me the winner,” Delija continued. “That decision cannot be changed later! The opponent sat and relaxed while watching the footage for more than a few minutes! Replay used after the interruption – which rules do not allow!! After [it] all, the fight continued irregularly!”
“I ask for nothing more, just honesty. I don’t run from defeat, I respect every opponent and every outcome. But not when rules are broken and I am robbed. Not in this way. The sport hasn’t seen this yet!!!”
While there’s no doubt that the situation devolved into a big mess, Delija isn’t completely correct in his claims. The referee stepped in but did not wave his hands to signal the fight was over, and instant replay is allowed in Nevada. Rules were mishandled, though, with Cortes-Acosta’s corner coming into the cage and giving him a stool to sit on, and Delija not being informed of what was going on.
Just another SNAFU moment in MMA, brought to you by poor implementation of the rules from officials. In the end, there really was an eye-poke to Corest-Acosta, so allowing him to recover and continue fighting was the proper thing to do … even if it was handled improperly.
