Eric Nicksick was not pleased with the stoppage of Chris Curtis’ fight against Roman Kopylov at UFC Vegas 101, but his frustration goes beyond just that moment.
Kopylov secured a third-round TKO victory over Curtis in a fight that was controversially stopped by referee Mark Smith with only one second remaining. Curtis was visibly upset, as was his head coach Nicksick.
Nicksick suspects there may be a personal bias at play and is considering taking steps to ensure Smith does not officiate his team’s future fights.
During an episode of his podcast Verse Us, Nicksick expressed his concerns about Smith’s behavior and potential conflicts of interest within the MMA community.
Despite acknowledging that Curtis should have avoided the head kick that led to the stoppage, Nicksick was particularly incensed by the referee’s handling of the fight and his failure to follow through on promises made before the bout.
Curtis, who has now suffered two consecutive losses, is contemplating a return to welterweight after struggling in recent fights.
Nicksick believes that, while Curtis may have ultimately lost the fight on the scorecards, the stoppage with just one second left was unjust and robbed both fighters of a proper conclusion to their hard-fought battle.
sentence: “I am going to the store to buy some groceries.”
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