In the co-main event of UFC Vegas 110, former PFL heavyweight champion Ante Delija was looking for his second win in two attempts since arriving in the UFC when he took on Waldo Cortes-Acosta.
Cortes-Acosta was ranked sixth in the weight class, which gives an indication of how highly the promotion thinks of Croatian heavyweight Ante.
Early on. Delija backed Cortes-Acosta to the fence, but the bigger heavyweight, weighing more than twenty pounds, reversed, changed levels and looked for a two-leg takedown. Ref Mark Smith threatened to take the position for lack of action, but Delija disappeared shortly afterwards. They ended up in a similar spot again, with Delija taking the fight to the fence as Cortes-Acosta backed up. However, less time is spent on it.
Just when everything seemed to be moving, they exploded. Delija landed a few shots in an exchange, and Cortes-Acosta covered it, fired back and covered some more. Delija started picking his shots and the referee stopped the action but did not wave off the fight. He went to the replay official, who revealed that the first contact was an eye poke, forcing Cortes-Acosta to cover up.
However, Delija celebrated a victory that did not materialize. Even a handful of promotion officials seem to think the fight is over.
Coincidentally, Delija’s teammate Tom Aspinall had fallen victim to an accidental eye puncture a week ago. Waldo-Cortes was allowed to continue and could be heard saying his vision improved. As with Aspinall, the fight would be a No Contest if Waldo could not continue. Cortes-Acosta decided to continue after another minute or so.
No point was scored and Cortes-Acosta immediately went on the attack when the action resumed. Moments later, he dropped Delija and followed with hammerfists! That was the fight. This one will be controversial because Delija initially thought he won the fight, even though the replay was obvious and the turn of events unimaginable.
Waldo Cortes-Acosta was still nursing his eye during his post-fight interview and said he felt the finger poking his eye. “I felt like I could keep going,” he added, saying that despite having 20% vision, “I don’t give a fuck.”
Official result: Waldo Cortes-Acosta def. Ante Delija by KO, round 1, 3:59
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