Ante Delija was not happy to see teammate Tom Aspinall get badly poked in the eye this past weekend at UFC 321, resulting in Aspinall’s title defense against Ciryl Gane being declared a no-contest.
Scheduled
to co-headline UFC Vegas 110 seven days after Aspinall vs. Gane—and less than two months after his own quick UFC win over Marcin Tybura—Delija told reporters at media day on Wednesday that officials should hand out bigger punishments for fouls such as eye pokes.
“I really don’t understand,” Delija said through a translator. “I had 33 fights and I never poked somebody in the eye, and I do believe the punishment for that should be severe.”
Aspinall has faced criticism from fans and even fellow fighters, who claimed he should have continued fighting even though Aspinall’s father has said the UFC heavyweight champion “still can’t see anything” out of one eye.
“I think he did a great job with not continuing,” Delija said. “If more fighters do the same thing, I think we can prevent the same thing from happening again.”
UFC CEO Dana White indicated Aspinall and Gane will immediately rematch for the title in 2026, and Delija is confident in Aspinall’s victory after seeing them in the octagon for less than five minutes.
“In my opinion, Tom is a better fighter in general and I did see that in that fight as well,” Delija said. “So I believe he’s going to win definitely in the next fight.”
Delija faces Waldo Cortes-Acosta this weekend in Las Vegas, a fighter who was riding a five-fight winning streak before dropping a decision against Sergei Pavlovich this past August. A win over him leads Delija to bigger opportunities in the division, but he’s not necessarily looking at title shots right now.
Aspinall recently said there’s “no chance” he would fight his friend, and would rather vacate the belt in order to give Delija “his time.” White considers those statements “absolutely insane,” while Delija sees it as proof of character.
“He is really, really dear friend of mine and I do believe with that statement he really showed his character,” Delija said. “I would also not fight against him for the belt.”
