Waldo Cortes-Acosta is one of the breakthrough fighters in the world in 2025, and if it were up to him, he’d get one more in before the year ends.
Cortes-Acosta finished Shamil Gaziev in the first round at UFC Qatar this past weekend in a fight that “Salsa Boy” took on three days’ notice. In fact, Cortes-Acosta got the call, flew from the Dominican Republic to Arizona, then began a journey to Doha, Qatar, that ended just before the event’s official weigh-ins.
Before the fight, Cortes-Acosta says he signed a brand new contract with the UFC that changed his life.
“I got a new contract, literally, the night before [the fight],” Cortes-Acosta told MMA Fighting. “When I signed that new contract, my heart was [beating] out of my chest. I tried to control my breathing, like, ‘Ok, this is real, this is real because I wasn’t ready for that. It surprised me, and I was very happy. Very happy with that. I’m thinking about everything about my life, my family in Dominican Republic, my family here, everybody’s life can change a little bit.”
“I try to help my whole family, little by little, growing up. [If I grow], I want my family to grow with me, too. It set me for my life.”
Cortes-Acosta has competed five times in 2025, and hopes to get back in there for the Dec. 13 Fight Night event at the UFC APEX in Las Vegas. The surging heavyweight’s head coach, Javier Torres, says that the UFC is already working on trying to find an opponent for his sixth fight of the year, and hopes to have an answer in the next couple of days.
When it comes to why being so active is so important, Cortes-Acosta understands it’s good for his brand, but also for the overall view of the UFC’s heavyweight division.
“I said in the [post-fight] interview, I want to carry heavyweight on my back and push it through,” Cortes-Acosta said. “I don’t like to hear the people on the internet talking shit about my ranking. It’s hard with me seeing somebody saying, ‘Oh, the heavyweight [division’s] shit, heavyweight is something, heavyweight is that,‘ because when you’re talking about heavyweight, you’re talking about me, too.”
Cortes-Acosta continues to send messages to UFC heavyweight champion Tom Aspinall, hoping the UK standout gets back in the octagon to have his runback with Ciryl Gane after their first meeting ended in a no-contest following an accidental eye poke from Gane. While he’s happy to be patient, Cortes-Acosta knows he’ll eventually share the octagon with Aspinall.
“I told him he needs to be ready because I [am coming] for him,” Cortes-Acosta said. “They need to show that people want to see him good and healthy. Can he do a fight? Can he do a rematch very fast? Because Waldo is ready for the chance at a title shot.”
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