Overview
- Referee Mark Smith halted Ante Delija’s early flurry to review an accidental eye poke on Waldo Cortes-Acosta, restarted the bout, and Cortes-Acosta scored a knockout seconds later at 3:59 of Round 1.
- Post-fight, Cortes-Acosta said his vision dropped to about 20% but chose to continue; doctors later noted a scratch inside the eye, and he still secured the comeback finish.
- Delija released a five-point statement claiming he was “robbed,” alleging the referee improperly handled the stoppage, replay, and restart after what he believed was a waved-off TKO.
- Cageside analysts Michael Bisping and Daniel Cormier questioned the decision to resume the fight, calling the sequence unprecedented and saying they were told a restart should not occur.
- The controversy followed last week’s Aspinall–Gane eye-poke no-contest, as Dana White signaled plans to rebook that title fight once Aspinall is medically cleared and fighters urged reviews of gloves and officiating rules.