Never seen this one before!
Ante Delija appeared to have TKO’d Waldo Cortes-Acosta in Vegas Saturday night in his 2nd UFC heavyweight fight. The referee stopped the fight in the 1st round after Delija went to work on Cortes-Acosta against the cage. After further review, the judges deemed and eye poke in the build up, gave Delija’s opponent a 5-minute break and allowed the fight to go on. Moments later, Delija was KO’d for his first UFC loss. This one was just plain bizarre.
Here’s what Delija had to say on his Instagram after the fight via MMA Junkie: “1️⃣ I’m not sure if I hit him in the eye, I think it’s near the eye and of course I want a video where you can see it correctly! 2️⃣ The referee did not show “time-out”, but stopped the fight and therefore declared me the winner. That decision cannot be changed later! 3️⃣ The opponent sat and relaxed while watching the footage for more than a few minutes! 4️⃣ Replay used after the interruption – which rules do not allow!! 5️⃣ After 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’m robbed.Not in this way.The sport hasn’t seen this yet!!!“
Too bad re Kova
Does Dalic have to fill one or two spots now (ie did he announce the max # initially or less than the max?)
Jagusic please (based on highlights his defensive work rate and results has already improved eg in 6th minute stoppage time – he’s part of 2 man wall – as soon as free kick taken – he rushes full speed to the goal line to help the keeper if shot gets thru – impressive – this is something we’ve never seen Bati do – he’d just stroll forward hoping the ball is cleared and he gets a break-away)
⬆️
What happened to Kova?
Ankle
Latest reports indicate that Kovacic needs an operation and that he will be out for 4 months.
he actually looks like Mirko in that pic at the top of this article.
Here’s the full replay
***.youtube.com/watch?v=cMmkgL8_O0I
Objectively Delija wasn’t any good
1st minute just sizing up / air jabs leading with left (notice however when he jabs/punches with left – he cocks his left arm/hand down and strikes up – when he finishes the punch – the arm/hand returns back down – this leaves an obvious opportunity for opponent to attack this opening – Aspinall taught him this crap?)
2nd minute allowing himself to be pinned on the cage (at 03:01 left he received a knee just by his groin, which could have hit his groin, hard to tell – he should have faked a groin knee at that point – to get an advantage back – his fault for not doing it – and decided to play it clean)
At 2:30 left Delija also almost received an eye poke himself – again, he should have faked an eye poke at that point – to get an advantage
At 2:09 left Delija also received an eye poke himself – again, he should have faked an eye poke at that point – to get an advantage
Starting at 1:46 left – Ante fake right (no land), left jab (no land – over the head), right punch (lands – good shot, but not particularly strong), left punch (no land), he than throws eight punches in a row wildly (only one of eight land)… Waldo than shuffles over…Ante doesn’t land a punch…Waldo then grabs his eye….than with Waldo gabbing his eye and vulnerable – Ante starts punching
Ante didn’t do enough pre-Waldo grabbing his eye to knock him down – never mind KO him
Basically, Walso realized he felt the (minor) eye poke (took a second or two bc of adrenaline) and than grabbed the eye – it’s no different than when Baturina or Budimir feels the slightest bit of contact and flops on the field – same idea – to gain an advantage / free kick
On the restart – Waldo just waits for Ante to throw the left (knowing after the punch the left arm/hand gets cocked back down to his left side and leaves an opening) – Ante actually made contact with Waldo’s nose with his left punch – but as soon as Ante’s left hand cocked back down to his side – Waldo right hand to Delija jaw and KO
No clue what Aspinall teaches Delija in training – but Ante was way to open on the left side every time he air jabbed / jabbed / threw a punch (both in the pre-throw and then post-throw) – Waldo was just waiting for the opening – one punch and Ante’s KO (obviously after the adrenaline dump of thinking he won the fight – although ref never actually waved it off – it was impossible for him to get going to start fighting again)
btw: didn’t look like Aspinall was in the stands cheering for Ante (like he was at the last fight) – would have been helpful as he could have told Ante immediately you haven’t won the fight yet – instead of the primitives in his corner celebrating bc they not paying attention to the ref – he’s been let down by his corner here
Also – Aspinall said after his fight that he would rather “vacate” the HW title than ever fight Ante if he got to a title shot – so not a stretch that Dana doesn’t want Aspinall to do that (vacate the title – he said that would be “insane”) so the writing was/is on the wall for Ante (that he won’t be given a shot to get close to it) – if you’re cynical you could say Aspinall said that to F over Ante
Jabs, straights, hooks and some upper cut attempts. The three stooges eye poke is a lie.
I kick boxed for a short while in my early 20’s, took Gōjū-ryū Karate at 16 and later Brazilian jiu-jitsu.
Watching that video, no where was there a damn eye poke as he’s unleashing a flurry of jabs and straights towards his opponent.
His opponent fakes an eye poke even before the barrage of punches. Even a novice or person with zero fighting knowledge can see this.
Ante was clearly robbed and to give a 5 min momentum swing is pure nonsense. If this isn’t turned over then anti Croat fix is in.
Even better when considered in context i.e.
Gane eye poke on Aspinall (Delija’s training partner) last weekend
Delija statements re: Aspinall eye pokes in the pre-fight press conference
Delija going to appeal it no doubt – how UFC rules (if they over-turn to no-contest, etc) tells us if Delija has a future with UFC or not