It’s official: the next wave of heavyweight coaching jokes could arrive with an eye patch. Javier Torres, the man shaping heavyweight Waldo Cortes Acosta, has taken the MMA world to attention with his new ‘fighting pirates’ team, complete with a walk-the-plank mentality and, apparently, zero tolerance for handshake drama.
Fighting pirates
Torres anchored his plan in a recent interview, sharing the backstory on what exactly makes his crew “pirates” and why recent events inside and outside the cage have cemented that brand. “Walk the plank,” Torres declaredwith a grin in his voice. His point? In this gym you choose a side. “Either you come with us, or you sink in the water,” Torres said. “Walk the plank.”
To arrive at that attitude, it took a number of events during fight week with Andrei Arlovski. According to Torres, that is usually respectful Cortes Acosta wanted to shake hands twice, on Tuesday and Wednesday, but received cold shoulders and icy responses from the Belarusian legend. “The guy’s like, ‘F you.’ He didn’t shake hands on Tuesday,” Torres says. “I said, ‘You know what, this guy.’ Waldo stays and went to shake his hand on Wednesday, and the man turned around and did the same. At that point I said to Waldo, ‘You’re losing respect for the legend. Put it on while you’re there. You’re not playing with this. ”
Forget playing it safe. That stupidity, Torres says, was a turning point. Instead of maintaining the “old school” respect for the legend, he told Cortes Acosta to fight with a new edge. “After that, my man’s mouthpiece fell off in the cage and the referee tried to kick it out of the mat. People don’t know what’s behind that,” Torres said. “He was respectful and [Arlovski] didn’t want to shake hands and actually told him, “F you, I don’t want to shake your hand.” “That’s why the point of the story now, anyway, is that we’re here and we’re the pirates taking over MMA.”
“I love my white boys”
For Torres it is more than a catchy name. “We’re trying to get all these guys, all the Hispanics, Latinos, out. Everybody – they don’t have to be Latino, but my market is Latinos. I don’t know why they love me, you know?” Yet the camaraderie of the gym doesn’t stop with language or background. “Don’t get me wrong, I love my white boys, I love my white people, I love my boys, everyone. I have guys from Germany, Canada, different guys. I don’t care, I train everyone, I have love for everyone. And we’re going to make the next big stars.”
Branding? Torres says his crew has it now. “Now we’re called the Fighting Pirates, buddy. That’s what we were missing: a little bit of branding and an eye patch. Now we’ve got it. Now we’re the Fighting Pirates. You sail with us or you sink. That’s what it is.”
Waldo Cortes Acosta
Waldo Cortes Acosta’s most recent performance saw him back in the Octagon, mixing business with pirate bravado. Waldo Cortes Acosta’s most recent fight took place at UFC Qatar on November 22, 2025, where he made a statement against Shamil Gaziev in the first round despite accepting the fight on just three days’ notice after Serghei Spivac pulled out.
The Dominican heavyweight ‘Salsa Boy’ went from vacation mode to fight-ready in the blink of an eye, flying across time zones and landing in Doha just before the weigh-ins. Within the OctagonBoth fighters started sharply, but Waldo found a home for a quick right hand that dropped Gaziev, then sealed the finish with another accurate right just 82 seconds into the opening round. With his fifth win of the year and a $50,000 Performance of the Night bonus, Cortes Acosta immediately called up Tom Aspinall for a possible sixth fight in December, keeping his “fighting pirates” schedule and heavy-handed momentum in the division alive.
With a fresh look and an even fresher chip on their shoulder, the ‘fighting pirates’ of Torres’ gym have put their flag in the ground.
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