It feels like we saw two different versions of Waldo Cortes Acosta in 2025. The first earned wins over Ryan Spann and Serghei Spivac before dropping a unanimous decision to Sergei Pavlovich in August, and the second posted a pair of first-round knockout wins over Ante Delija and Shamil Gaziev in November.
“After that loss (to Pavlovich), I feel like I can (have success) because I lost the fight being a warrior,” Dominican heavyweight said following the UFC 324 press conference earlier. “I finished the third round hard, and I saw before that he knocked out almost half the division.