Eric Nicksick recently voiced his disapproval of the referee who officiated Chris Curtis' fight at UFC Vegas 101. Nicksick gave his opinion on the contentious stoppage and criticized the official for the way he handled the fight's ending.
Curtis squared off against Roman Kopylov in a middleweight bout on the main card of UFC Vegas 101, which took place at UFC APEX in Las Vegas, Nevada, this past weekend. After a closely contested first two rounds, the Russian stunned Curtis with a stunning head-kick, and referee Mark Smith opted to stop the fight with only a second remaining on the clock.
In a recent episode of Verse Us with Eric Nicksick, Nicksick discussed Kopylov's repeated fouls during the contest. The MMA coach slammed Smith for not taking a point, saying:
''That’s what I’m pissed off about. You never get three timeouts in a f—king fight. So, number one, he spit his mouthpiece out. That wasn’t too bad. All right. Groin strike... Then the eye poke, and I calmly said to Mark, ‘Hey, that is two infractions in a row in this round. Where’s the point?”
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Nicksick went on to express his thoughts on Smith's decision to call off the fight right before the final bell, adding:
''You [Smith] decided to stop the fight with one second left... Let the motherfu*ker go out on his shield bro. That was some b*tch sh*t, you didn't have to stop the fight on that moment... He fraternizes with other gyms, teams, fighters, coaches and everything else... I think he’s an egomaniac. I mean, I’ve never heard a ref ask people to vote for him for the ‘MMA Ref of the Year.” [H/t: MMA Fighting]
Check out the full podcast below:
Chris Curtis releases post-fight statement following UFC Vegas 101
Chris Curtis suffered a disappointing loss to Roman Kopylov at UFC Vegas 101 this past weekend, coming away with 'Fight of the Night' honors. After the bout, Curtis took to Instagram and issued a statement reflecting his loss.
''Only job in the world where you can make 200k in a night and still be absolutely heartbroken and questioning where you go from here. No damage, I’m fine. Probably train tomorrow for my sanity but just frustrated and heartbroken.'' [H/t: Bloody Elbow]
Curtis and Kopylov were level on the scorecards after the first two rounds, and the latter was clearly winning the final round before the alleged early stoppage, so the former likely would've lost a decision if the referee hadn't intervened. 'The Action Man' has now won just two bouts in his last seven.