It seems Tom Aspinall’s eye poke fiasco isn’t going away anytime soon. Though no fault of his own, there’s a raging debate as to whether he quit inside the Octagon against Ciryl Gane because of the Frenchman’s double eye poke. Now the situation has only gotten weirder with his teammate, Ante Delija, who ended up poking Waldo Cortes-Acosta in the eyes, only to get knocked out when the Dominican decided to continue the fight! Much like Aspinall, however, the optics don’t look good for Cortes-Acosta, quite literally!

Waldo Cortes Acosta revealed during the post-fight press conference the status of his eyes, and it’s not looking good. But seeing how so many eye-poke incidents have been taking place in the UFC, the heavyweight fighter did not want to see his opponent get disqualified for something he did not feel was deliberate. Cortes-Acosta took his time to recover and got a win, but still has issues with his vision because, according to him, his eyes aren’t working properly.

“I never think [that] the fight [should] stop. I say that because in the moment… it hurt. I never like… feel like [he should have been] disqualified for poking [my] eye,” said Waldo Cortes Acosta. “I [was] asking the referee, ‘How long [do I have to recover]? 5 minutes?’… [Referee said], ‘It’ll be like 3 minutes and 20 seconds.’ [I said], ‘Give me one minute more’… Brother, the eyes are getting worse and worse.”

His left eye didn’t look good, but Waldo Cortes-Acosta decided to continue and fight as he was charged with emotion that helped him push through the pain. Meanwhile, the Dominican native turned his attention to Tom Aspinall after his fight, issuing a subtle warning to the champion. Here’s what he had to say.

Beware, Tom Aspinall, claims Waldo Cortes-Acosta

Waldo Cortes-Acosta’s decision to continue fighting despite getting poked in the eye is a testament to his Dominican roots, according to the heavyweight fighter. He could have chosen to take the same route Tom Aspinall did at UFC 321 and end the fight in a no-contest or perhaps a disqualification for his opponent, but Cortes-Acosta believed that he could keep fighting, and that turned out to be a great decision because he went on to win the fight. As he makes his climb up the rankings, the 34-year-old has his eyes set on the title and has warned Aspinall that he’s coming for it soon.

“I feel a finger go deep inside my eye. 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,” Cortes-Acosta said during the Octagon interview. “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.”

It’s a clear statement against the reigning heavyweight champion, if put subtly. Aspinall chose the way out, Cortes-Acosta chose to stay and fight.

Will Tom Aspinall take notice, and pay close attention, or has he got bigger fish to fry in the possible rematch with Ciryl Gane? And, what do you make of Waldo Cortes Acosta’s statement after the eye poke? Drop your comments below.