Waldo Cortez-Acosta - Curtis Blades: betting tip (cf 1.68) and bets on the fight

Current form 

For Waldo Cortez-Acosta, the upcoming fight will be the third in 2026. The Dominican started the year very convincingly: in January, he stopped Derrick Lewis in the second round. However, the veteran looked so tired by that time that his body. In May, Cortez-Acosta received a much more serious check and lost to Alexander Volkov by decision of the judges. A year earlier, Salsa Boy did not complain about the lack of employment at all. In 2025, he had five fights, ending them three times ahead of schedule. Ryan Spann was stopped in the second round, Ante Delia was already in the first, and Shamil Gaziev was knocked out also in the opening five minutes. Sergey Spivak conceded by decision. Cortez-Acosta suffered the only defeat from Sergey Pavlovich, losing to him on points.

As a result, the Dominican rose to fifth place in the UFC heavyweight division rankings. He began his path to the largest organization in the world in the Legacy Fighting Alliance, where he managed to win the championship title. After that, joining the UFC became a logical continuation of his career, and the invitation from Dana White was not long in coming. The 34-year-old Cortez-Acosta has 17 wins and three losses as a professional. He won nine victories by knockout, seven by decision of the judges, and one more by submission. The Dominican also has a blue belt in Brazilian jiu-jitsu. However, he remains his main weapon in the stance, where he prefers to act quite straightforwardly: pressure, heavy punches, footwork and a constant desire to force the opponent to back away.

Curiously, Cortez-Acosta came to boxing and mixed martial arts relatively late — he started training only at the age of 24. For a professional fighter, this is an age at which many already have time to go through serious school in children's and youth sports. The Dominican had no such foundation: he did not have a rich wrestling or grappling background. But his baseball career, where he played as a pitcher, gave him a serious sports base.

In boxing, Cortez-Acosta has six wins, three of which ended in a knockout, and four defeats. And there is also an important geographical detail. The fighter trains at the Ultimate Kombat Training Center in Phoenix, meaning he's almost within walking distance of the tournament venue. Technically, he will be a guest, but the feeling of a home fight may well arise.

Current form 

Curtis Blades approaches the meeting after a long pause. The last time he entered the octagon was in April 2026, when he had a tough fight with Josh Hokit at the UFC 327 tournament. The fight turned out to be so intense that the audience saw almost all possible emotional states in one evening. Blades eventually lost by unanimous decision, but received a bonus for the Fight of the evening. Before that, the American managed to get the better of Rizvan Kuniev by split decision. The result was controversial, and not all experts saw Blades' victory. Even earlier, he dealt with Hamilton Almeida, knocking the Brazilian out in the second round. But the meeting with Sergey Pavlovich ended extremely unpleasantly for him: the Russian stopped Blades with a technical knockout in the first round.

The 35-year-old American ranks sixth in the heavyweight rankings. He has been competing in the UFC since 2016, and before that he managed to collect impressive results at the regional level without suffering a single defeat. In total, Blades has 19 wins in his professional career — 12 by knockout, six by decision, and one by submission.

If Cortez-Acosta's main focus is on percussion, then Blades' is much clearer. His main weapon is fighting. The American went through a serious school long before his professional career in MMA. In high school, he was involved in wrestling and finished his senior season with the title of state champion. The Blades later won the NJCAA National Championship. Blades also has a purple belt in Brazilian jiu-jitsu.