While opponent Chris Curtis and many viewers didn’t agree with Mark Smith’s stoppage of their fight Saturday at UFC Fight Night 249, Kopylov (13-3 MMA, 5-3 UFC) doesn’t see the ending as all that controversial.

Controversy reigned at the first UFC event of 2025 as the bout between Roman Kopylov and Chris Curtis produced a hotly disputed last-second stoppage.

Roman Kopylov scored a Hollywood finish at UFC's first show of 2025, and he had to overcome a horrific mask of blood to get his win over Chris Curtis in the very last second of their middleweight fight on Saturday,

Kopylov (14-3 MMA, 6-3 UFC) finished Curtis (31-12 MMA, 5-4 UFC) literally with one second left in their middleweight fight at UFC Fight Night 249 at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas. But immediately upon the stoppage, Curtis protested that he wasn’t knocked out – and that the fight should have continued.