Ante Delija’s scathing pre-fight comments about eye pokes come back to bite him following UFC Vegas 110

Delija’s pre-fight eye poke comments come back to bite him

With it only being a week removed from the disaster at UFC 321 between Tom Aspinall and Ciryl Gane, ahead of his fight this Saturday, Delija was asked about what he thought about the eye poke and what ensued, unknowing that his comments would come back to bite him.

“I think (Aspinall) did a great job with not continuing and if more fighters do the same thing, I think we can prevent the same thing from happening again,” he said during the pre-fight media day.

“Absolutely 100%, I think more fighters should do the same thing and more behaving that way, and I do believe we’re gonna stop with that whatsoever.

“I really don’t understand, I’ve had 33 fights and I’ve never poked someone in the eye and I do believe the punishment for that should be severe,” he continued.

After last week’s meltdown, veteran UFC referee Herb Dean revealed that an emergency meeting is set to take place with the commission on November 4, with changes potentially being made.

Delija breaks his silence following loss

After bursting into the UFC with an incredible debut win earlier this year, fans were highlighting the Croatian heavyweight as a potential future title contender.

However, ‘Walking Trouble’ stated that he wouldn’t fight his teammate Aspinall for the title if it came to that, agreeing with the champion’s previous comments.

Despite that, the 35-year-old will likely now have to score several more wins in a row before he is matched up against a top five contender.

And after such a controversial end to what would’ve been back-to-back wins for him, Delija broke his silence just hours after the event, claiming he was robbed.