Eric Nicksick went off on referee Mark Smith for his handling of Chris Curtis’ loss at UFC Fight Night 249.
Curtis (31-12 MMA, 5-4 UFC) was dropped by a Roman Kopylov (13-3 MMA, 5-3 UFC) head kick with just one second left in their middleweight fight this past Saturday at the UFC Apex, prompting Smith to waive the fight off.
Curtis immediately protested the stoppage, but his head coach Nicksick is irked by other things that happened during the fight – which he warned Smith about prior.
“First and foremost, we need to take accountability on our end,” Nicksick said on his “Versus Us” podcast. “We should have never been in that position. If you don’t want Mark to make that call, then don’t get head kicked. Don’t be in that position or that situation to make him 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. … We were told something different than the way he handled it in the fight. That’s what I’m pissed off about. You never get three timeouts in a f*cking fight. So, No. 1, he spit his mouthpiece out. That wasn’t too bad. All right: Groin strike. OK, time(out). Remember when the momentum was where: Chris was going downhill. You guys hear me yell, ‘Oregon … no huddle … keep that f*cking offense on the field and keep the pressure,’ right? 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 revealed that he goes way back with Smith, who used to ref some of the sparring sessions at Xtreme Couture. His frustration with Smith’s stoppage of Curtis’ fight was audible on the broadcast.
“For whatever reason it is, I feel like every time I see Mark, we’re fighting against two people, not one,” Nicksick said. “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 going to give us a fair shake.’ (Mike) Beltran, he’s going to give us a fair shake.’ When I see Mark Smith, I’m like, ‘How is this guy going to find a way to f*ck us over, some how, some way?'”
Nicksick has had an issue with Smith’s reffing for years, he said, and hopes he can request him not to officiate any of Xtreme Couture’s fights moving forward.
“I’m going to find all that out, 100 percent – it’s just too far gone,” Nicksick said. “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.
“There’s no way that this guy can’t hold a grudge or bias. There’s just no way. I know him too well. 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.'”
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For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC Fight Night 249.
This article originally appeared on MMA Junkie: Chris Curtis’ head coach explains issue with ‘egomaniac’ referee Mark Smith: ‘We’re now fighting two people’
