Waldo Cortes-Acosta’s night at the UFC APEX nearly ended in disaster before it turned into one of the wildest finishes of the evening. The Dominican heavyweight absorbed a painful eye poke and moments later unleashed a crushing counter shot that left Ante Delija out cold in the opening round.
Early in the fight, Delija pushed forward with combinations, catching Cortes-Acosta with several strikes after his finger accidentally went into his opponent’s eye. Referee Mark Smith stepped in to pause the action as replays confirmed a clear foul had occurred.
Despite obvious pain and impaired vision, Cortes-Acosta took the recovery time allowed and chose to continue the bout. That decision soon paid off in spectacular fashion.
The Knockout
Once the action resumed, Cortes-Acosta came forward with renewed intensity. Just seconds later, he landed a perfectly placed counter right hand that dropped Delija instantly. The follow-up ground strikes sealed the finish as Smith jumped in to wave off the contest at 3:59 of Round 1.
“I feel a finger go deep inside my eye,” Cortes-Acosta said afterward. “The referee said stop, I stopped. I don’t know the referee or something didn’t poke me in the eyes. I decided to continue because I feel I can continue, my eye is at like 20 percent vision. [Tom] Aspinall, I go for you, I’ll be ready.
“I’m mad. I’m Dominican. That’s in my blood. I’m excited. I want to come back. I want to be champion of the world.”
Even after the victory, Cortes-Acosta was seen holding a towel over his injured eye during his post-fight interview, evidence of how severe the poke had been.
This has to be one of the craziest moments in UFC history.
Ante Delija thought he TKO’d Waldo Cortes-Acosta, but he eye poked him.
Minutes pass and the fight is restarted, and then Waldo immediately KO’s Delija.#UFC
— Verdict (@VerdictMMA) November 2, 2025
Waldo Cortes Acosta sends a message to Tom Aspinall after being accidentally eye poked bye his teammate Ante Delija and continuing to fight
“My eye was like 20% vision but I said I don’t give a f**k. Aspinall you see that fight, I’m coming for you … be ready ok” pic.twitter.com/nEanr2IUf0
— FULL SEND MMA (@full_send_mma) November 2, 2025
Waldo Cortes Acosta has now updated his picture on social media to troll Tom Aspinall after his victory tonight pic.twitter.com/SvkPfGJhDZ
— FULL SEND MMA (@full_send_mma) November 2, 2025
The win marked a crucial rebound for “Salsa Boy,” who had dropped his previous outing to Sergei Pavlovich. For Delija, the defeat was his first inside the UFC after an impressive promotional debut.
Cormier and other analysts at cageside praised Cortes-Acosta’s composure, noting how rare it is for fighters to recover from such a damaging foul and still score a clean knockout. His ability to reset and find the finishing punch showed the grit that earned him a reputation as one of the toughest competitors in the division.
