After a 25-minute battle with Brendan Allen, Chris Curtis believes his controversial split decision loss was due to a 15-second defective optic.
By all accounts, “Action Man” was on his way to a win over “All In” in the UFC Vegas 90 headliner. Then suddenly disaster struck as Curtis injured his leg with only seconds remaining. That caused Allen to scramble at the last minute and perhaps sway her decision in his favor.
“Visually there were a lot of exchanges where it looked like I was winning,” Curtis said in an exclusive LowKick MMA interview with Mike Owens. “I feel like I'm doing more damage. I get less reactions. I was pushing the fight further. I felt like I was the aggressor.”
“I heard from many people that I made it in the fifth round. I was winning and then things got really bad when I tore my hamstring. At the end, he threw a furious pitch, but nothing reached him. I got hit in the shoulder with a knee. I wasn't hurt or anything, but from an optical point of view, I'm the only survivor right now.
“I think the optical performance of 15 seconds was better than 4 minutes and 45 seconds, which is kind of terrible,” Curtis added. “That's not what you want, but you can't control the judges and they're going to go by what they see most of the time. What are these guys doing, 300? Dollars are shit [show]. They are usually not experts in this field. It sucks, but optics play a big role and losing for 15 seconds of bad optics is the worst. ”
Chris Curtis maintains top 15 ranking despite questionable loss
Rather than move into the top 10 middleweight division with a win, Curtis continues to hold onto his ranking at No. 14 in the division.
'The Action Man' also revealed some horrifying details about his hamstring injury, including his timetable for return, which you can read all about here.
Check out the full exclusive interview with Chris Curtis below.
