This charging heavyweight doesn’t wish to waste time.
This past Saturday’s UFC Vegas 110 card was largely absent of major names and contenders, because the promotion’s first event because the pay-per-view in Abu Dhabi fell flat.
Among the many few fights with rankings implications was Waldo Cortes-Acosta’s win over Ante Delija, which got here in controversial fashion on the Apex.
Before Cortes-Acosta’s knockout, Delija believed he had won via TKO just for the stoppage to be overturned owing to a watch poke that the Dominican fighter had suffered.
When the fight was controversially restarted, ‘Salsa Boy’ capitalized to make it three wins out of 4 for him in 2025. And together with his eyes on difficult for Aspinall’s gold in 2026, the No. 6-ranked contender has no plans to stop there.
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Waldo Cortes-Acosta wants a fifth UFC fight in 2025
Before bouncing back at Delija’s expense on November 1, Cortes-Acosta lost to Sergei Pavlovich at UFC Shanghai in August. That result stands because the Dominican heavyweight’s only setback in his past seven fights.
It also prevented ‘Salsa Boy’ from going unbeaten in 2025, however the 34-year-old still has his sights set on tying a record before this yr is over.
12 fighters in UFC history have fought five times in a single calendar yr, but Greg Hardy is the one heavyweight to accomplish that. Cortes-Acosta plans to vary that, and he called on Dana White to assist make it occur.
“I wanna fight last card of the yr,” he wrote on X. “Dec thirteenth @ufc @UFCEspanol I’m going to the doctor (to) get clear and get back. I wanna do 5 fights this yr @danawhite @Mickmaynard2”
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Waldo Cortes-Acosta open to fighting Tom Aspinall’s former opponent next
In relation to his ambition of becoming only the second heavyweight in UFC history to fight five times in a single yr, Cortes-Acosta already has an opponent in mind.
Alexander Volkov beat Jailton Almeida at UFC 321 to stake his claim for a title shot, however the disastrous ending to Tom Aspinall’s defense within the essential event means the Russian could possibly be waiting a while while the champion’s rematch with Ciryl Gane plays out.
With that, ‘Salsa Boy’ is open to facing ‘Drago’ within the meantime in a possible title eliminator.
“I’m game,” Cortes-Acosta wrote on X when a fan advised him to focus on Volkov.