"Ref was waiting for the curb stomp" - Fans slam referee over late stoppage leading to vicious KO in Randy Costa vs. Jason Knight fight

Randy Costa and Jason Knight recently clashed in a featherweight contest at the recently held Gamebred Bareknuckle MMA 6 event at Mississippi Coast Coliseum in Biloxi. The highly anticipated event featured several UFC veterans, including heavyweights Alan Belcher and Roy Nelson, who headlined the event.

Costa dispatched Knight with relative ease and secured a first-round knockout victory. The fight started with Costa throwing head kicks early and capitalizing on Knight stumbling by hitting his opponent with hard, accurate strikes.

Just over a minute in, Jason Knight's face was a bloodied mess, and 'The Kid' couldn't survive Costa's forward pressure. At the 1:41 mark, Knight collapsed to the ground. While Randy Costa graciously backed off after seeing his opponent go down, the referee surprisingly lingered for a bit before stopping the contest.

After @Grabaka_Hitman posted a video of the fight to X, fans took to the comments section to criticize the referee.

One fan wrote:

"Ref was waiting for the curb stomp, wtf."

Another fan praised Randy Costa for walking away and opined:

"Good thing Costa walked away, the ref was gonna let it go on."

One user wrote:

"What the f**k did I just watch? Jason Knight used to be such a solid fighter in the UFC."

Check out some more reactions below:

Screenshots from @Grabaka_Hitman on X

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Did Randy Costa compete in the UFC? A look at 'The Zohan's MMA record

Randy Costa is a 29-year-old American mixed martial artist and is best known for his six-fight stint in the UFC. 'The Zohan' made his professional MMA debut against Stacey Anderson at Cage Titans 39 in June 2018, winning via first-round TKO.

Costa won his next three fights via first-round knockouts and secured his UFC contract. Unfortunately, Costa's promotional debut was one to forget. He faced Brandon Davis at UFC 236 in April 2019 and was defeated via second-round submission. He redeemed himself with two back-to-back wins over Boston Salmon and Jersey Newson, both wins via first-round knockout.

After that, Randy Costa went on a dismal three-fight losing streak, which started with a second-round TKO loss against Adrian Yanez at UFC Vegas 32 in July 2021. His next fight against Tony Kelly also ended with Costa getting knocked out in the second screen, followed by a first-round submission loss to Guido Cannetti.

Given Randy Costa's record in the promotion, the UFC decided to release him in October 2022. 'The Zohan' stopped his losing slide with a first-round TKO win over Carlos Espinosa at Combat FC 4 in June 2023.