LAS VEGAS — Heavyweight Waldo Cortes-Acosta turned chaos into a career highlight at UFC Fight Night 263, surviving a nasty, illegal eye poke from Ante Delija before starching the Croatian with a right hand moments after the restart. The first-round knockout capped one of 2025’s strangest sequences and ignited Cortes-Acosta’s loudest callouts to date.
From crisis to KO
Mid-exchange, Delija’s fingers raked Cortes-Acosta’s eye, leaving the Dominican slugger covering up as follow-up shots landed. Referee Mark Smith halted the action, allowed recovery time, and after replay confirmed the foul restarted the bout. On the very next meaningful exchange, Cortes-Acosta detonated a right hand that ended it.