In a strange turn of events, Tom Aspinall’s training partner Ante Delija was ruled to have committed an eye poke in his UFC fight on Saturday – one week after Aspinall’s bout was halted when he was poked in both eyes.
Aspinall was defending the undisputed heavyweight title for the first time when, in the very first round, Ciryl Gane poked the Briton in both eyes at the same time.
Aspinall, 32, was unable to continue fighting, and the UFC 321 main event was ruled a No Contest in Abu Dhabi.
And one week later, Delija’s sophomore outing in the UFC ended in chaotic fashion after he was judged to have been on the other end of such a foul.
Delija, also a heavyweight, was facing Waldo Cortes-Acosta on a Fight Night card in Las Vegas, when he seemed to have overwhelmed his opponent with a fight-ending flurry of strikes.
Referee Mark Smith waved off the bout, but a replay showed that Delija had seemingly poked Cortes-Acosta during the final sequence. As such, Smith restarted the fight but first gave Cortes-Acosta time to recover.
Upon the resumption of the action, Cortes-Acosta soon produced a TKO of the Croat, earning a first-round victory.
Delija, 35, took to Instagram on Sunday to complain about the episode, writing in Croatian: “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 that stab!
“The referee did not show ‘time-out’, but stopped the fight and therefore declared me the winner. That decision cannot be changed later!
“The opponent sat and relaxed while watching the footage! Replay used after the interruption - which rules do not allow!! 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!!!”
Prior to Saturday’s event, Delija said of Aspinall’s incident with Gane: “I think [Aspinall] did a great job with not continuing, and if more fighters do the same thing, I think we can prevent the same thing from happening again.
“I really don’t understand. I had 33 fights and I never poked somebody in the eye. And I do believe that the punishment for that should be severe.”
After Aspinall’s incident with Gane, UFC president Dana White said a rematch would be booked as soon as possible. As of four days after the fight, Aspinall was still unable to see in his right eye and was limited to “50 per cent” vision in his left.
Prior to UFC 321, Aspinall had said he would not fight Delija due to their friendship. The Briton said he would rather vacate his title, a prospective move that White deemed “insane”. “I hate that,” said the UFC president.
