Ante Delija made his first UFC appearance in Paris, at a much more favorable time for the audience from this area, but he suffered a dramatic defeat in an unprecedented way.
Delia’s other UFC opponent was Waldo Cortes-Acosta (14-2-0 before the match), who entered the fight as the sixth-ranked challenger within the heavyweight division, and under the auspices of the UFC, he was 7-2-0 heading into this fight.
Delia tried to reach Acosta with a left hook at the very beginning of the match, but the fighter from the Dominican Republic remained out of reach. It’s slow Delia pressed the opponent towards the fence of the cageclosing the distance and opening up the opportunity for clinch and potential takedowns. But in the clinch it was Acosta who took the initiative and pressed Delia against the wire and “punished” him with several knee strikes to the thigh.
After approx a minute of the clinchDelija broke away and ten seconds later he went for the takedown with a “double leg”, but to no avail. After Acosta defended the takedown, a new clinch followed in which Acosta landed a solid elbow, but no one managed to do more concrete damage in that position.
Two minutes before the end of the round it happened of a new separation and then we thought we had the outcome of the match. Ante relaxed in the boxing exchanges, led Acosta into an open exchange, and it was Waldo who got the upper hand. Back in the announcement, we wrote that Acosta prefers a slightly slower pace and fighting from a distance, and that Delia could find himself much better in the eventual chaos.
More of Delia’s blows landed on Acosta’s head during that great exchange, but it seemed like Acosta took all the punches. However, a few seconds later Acosta covers his face with the palms of both hands, and Delia recognized the opportunity.
He hit Acosta with a series of punches, who stopped actively defending himself, and the referee had to stop the match, because Acosta obviously could not continue.
Ante needed three and a half minutes to win, but Acosta complained about the stoppage at the end of the match, and referee Mark Smith asked to watch the video to determine if there was an illegal poke in the eye.
A slow-motion video showed how the finger was Anta’s left hand unfortunately ended up in Acosta’s left eye. It remains to wait what the judge will decide. “No contest” was the most likely outcome of the match. While waiting for the decision, Acosta let out a pained moan several times, perhaps because he really felt the pain, and perhaps to enhance the impression of the stab in the eye. It’s interesting how Acosta got it five minutes for recovery and the possibility to continue the fight. Daniel Cormier from the commentary position pointed out that “he has never seen anything like this”, that is, he did not witness the continuation of the fight after the fight was initially interrupted.
The match continued a minute and a half before the end of the round, and 25 seconds later a shock followed! Delija threw the front direct which stayed on the opponent’s face, but Acosta countered with a right “overhand” over Delia’s left hand and sent her Anto in a heavy knockdown. Immediately, Acosta attacked the Croatian heavyweight, chained several punches from the top position, Delija did not defend himself and the referee stopped the match.
Just a few minutes after Ante celebrated his victory, we watched Delia get knocked out and lose this match. This was Delia’s second UFC appearance and first defeat within the world’s leading MMA organization, while Acosta reached his eighth victory in his tenth UFC match.
(Fightsite.hr | Photo: UFC)
