Former top 15 Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) Middleweight Chris Curtis suffered his second straight loss at UFC Vegas 101 this past weekend (Sat., Jan. 11, 2025) when Roman Kopylov stopped him with one second left inside the UFC Apex in Las Vegas (watch highlights).
Both Curtis and his head coach, Eric Nicksick, were furious about the stoppage, which was undoubtedly controversial and can be dissected in several different ways.
Now that Nicksick has had time to digest what happened, he explained why he was so mad at UFC Vegas 101 … and it wasn’t about the kick that stopped the fight.
“First and foremost, we need to take accountability on our end. I said this to Chris immediately after the fight. We should have never been in that position. If you don’t want Mark [Smith] to make that call, then don’t get head kicked,” Nicksick said on his podcast Versus Us. “Don’t be in that position or that situation to make Mark make that type of decision. Now, the stoppage was questionable. We’re all agreeing to that. But it wasn’t the stoppage that I’m mad about.”
“It was the fact that prior to the fight, the referee comes in and asks, ‘Do you have any questions or concerns?’ Chris Curtis went on and said this: ‘Guy will find ways to stall. What are you going to do if and when he does stall? How are you going to handle that? We laid out the game plan on how we’re going to attack and approach,” Nicksick added. “We were told something different, and then the way he handled it in the fight, right? 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- Remember, Chris was [applying a lot of pressure], right? You guys hear me yell, ‘Oregon- meaning no-huddle.’ Keep that f—king offense on the field and keep the pressure, right? Yep. 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?”
Nicksick has had trouble with veteran mixed martial arts (MMA) referee Mark Smith before and went on to list several different instances in which Smith screwed up a call or missed a foul.
“Anytime that I see Mark Smith walk in the back and say, ‘I got your fight.’ This sounds shitty to say, but I think to myself, we’re now fighting two people, not one. I have felt like that for years. And this runs deeper than yesterday, Nicksick said. “Bottom line, I think Mark’s a good person. He’s not a bad human being…For whatever reason, I feel like every time I see Mark, we’re fighting against two people, not one. That’s my feeling…That’s how I feel when I see that dude come in the back. When I see [Jason] Herzog, I’m like, ‘Great. This dude’s gonna give us a fair shake.’ [Mike] Beltran will give us a fair shake.’ When I see Mark Smith, I’m like, ‘How is this guy gonna find a way to f—ck us over? Somehow, someway.’
Nicksick is going to try to find out if there is a way to formally request Smith not to ref any of his fighter’s fights in the future because he believes there is too much baggage between the two, especially because Smith used to ref sparring rounds at Xtreme Couture, Nicksick’s gym in Las Vegas.
“I’m gonna find all that out [from the commission]. 100%. It’s just too far gone,” Nicksick said. “Like, I know this guy too well, anecdotally, through all of my experiences with him, and on a personal level of what I’ve seen with other people and other fights. Like, there’s no way that this guy can’t hold a grudge or be biased. There’s just no way. I know him too well, and he fraternizes with other gyms, teams, fighters, coaches, and everything else. So, the lines have been blurred. 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.”
For complete UFC Vegas 101 results, coverage, and highlights click HERE.