We’re barely a week cut off from the disaster that was UFC 321, and the eye poke monster has veered its ugly head in a cruel twist of fate that can best be described as ironic. Ciryl Gane poked Tom Aspinall in the eye in last weekend’s Abu Dhabi PPV main event, resulting in the bout being declared a no-contest. This weekend, at UFC Vegas 110, Aspinall’s teammate returned the favor, but to somebody else. Except this time, he didn’t get away with the eye poke.

The co-main event of UFC Vegas 110 saw Waldo Cortes-Acosta and Aspinall’s teammate, Ante Delija, battle it out in the heavyweight division. But not without controversy. While Cortes-Acosta managed to secure a first-round knockout win at 03:59, just before the KO sequence, Tom Aspinall’s teammate poked Acosta’s eye. Clearly, there’s no shortage of irony in the MMA promotion, but it only gets better.

Ante Delija didn’t understand how eye pokes happen

Before his fight tonight at UFC Apex in Las Vegas, Nevada, Delija made some bold claims about punishing fighters who poke their opponent’s eyes. “I really don’t understand,” Delija said during media day on Wednesday. “I had 33 fights and I never poked somebody in the eye, and I do believe the punishment for that should be severe.” Notably, Aspinall faced backlash for failing to continue the fight when he said he couldn’t see.

“I think he did a great job with not continuing,” Delija added, defending his teammate. “If more fighters do the same thing, I think we can prevent the same thing from happening again.” Dana White has, of course, revealed a rematch is afoot, and Delija felt Aspinall would get the job done the second time around. “In my opinion, Tom is a better fighter in general, and I did see that in that fight as well,” Delija said. “So I believe he’s going to win definitely in the next fight.”

The Croatian fighter appears to have fallen victim to cruel irony. It was a similar situation to last week’s main event. Delija was winning the exchanges before the eye poke happened. However, what’s different is that Cortes-Acosta chose to keep fighting despite the compromised eye. What resulted was a spectacular comeback first-round KO victory, and statement directed at the heavyweight champion himself.

This fight, especially involving Aspinall’s teammate doing the infraction and then losing horribly can’t be a good look on the Englishman. And sure enough, the MMA community let him know through their reactions to this moment.

People are having a field day with Tom Aspinall

One user took a shot at the sport of MMA itself, commenting, “Ante Delija poked Waldo Cortes-Acosta in the eye before the finishing sequence. It’s going to be a No Contest… Every week, we see these shenanigans in MMA. This is not a real sport lol.” It would be interesting to see what the Croatian heavyweight has to say now. 

Meanwhile, MMA Mania’s Alex Behunin stated the obvious. He commented, “Lmao how ironic.” Even worse for Delija, he has to live with a loss. 

MMA Guru believes such things can’t be written. He wrote, “WOW, TOM ASPINALL’S TEAM MATE ANTE DELIJA EYE POKES WALDO CORTES ACOSTA IN ROUND ONE AND FINISHES HIM VIA TKO #UFCVegas110. The storylines of MMA are literal destiny, couldn’t script a more ironic Ante win. Ante’s in, eye poked him, good that. Hard works done. Overturned NC.” The result didn’t end up being a no-contest.

Another user was ready to phone in the authorities. The user wrote, “If Mark Smith calls this a win for Delija call the f—ing FBI. Should be a DQ.” Unlike Aspinall, Waldo Cortes-Acosta decided to continue fighting and even turned it into a divisive win. 

Someone else brought up the irony in this situation, stating, “You can’t make this up. Tom Aspinall vs. Ciryl Gane ended last week because of an eye poke. Now, Aspinall’s teammate Ante Delija just eye poked Waldo Cortes-Acosta, and the fight is very likely going to be a no-contest.” Had the Aspinall fight proceeded after the eye-poke, who do you think would have won?

MMA Junkie Assistant Editor Matthew Wells commented, “And the fight is restarting? And of course, Delija doesn’t face any repercussions for a foul.” Referee Herb Dean has claimed there’s going to be a meeting regarding a rule change thanks to the Aspinall incident. 

MMA Fighting senior reporter Damon Martin added, “OMG! Waldo Cortes Acosta gets poked in the eye, takes time to recover, and then DEMOLISHES Ante Delija just seconds later. Unreal.” Fans may have wanted Tom Aspinall to do this last month.

Clearly, UFC Vegas 110 turned out to be more than it was supposed to, but not thanks to something extraordinary. What do you think about irony in this matter?