A heavyweight showdown between up-and-coming Waldo Cortes-Acosta and UFC knockout king Derrick Lewis arrived at UFC 324 on Saturday.
In the balance sheet? Possibly a shot at UFC White House in June. Lewis, one of US President Donald Trump’s favorite fighters, seemed like a no-brainer for the event. However, Waldo Cortes-Acosta had expressed interest in appearing on the map himself, where he could represent Latin Americans.
Lewis and Cortes-Acosta both had their right hands cocked and loaded to start Saturday’s heavyweight scrap. However, Lewis went high with a kick that was blocked. His next move was to fire an outside leg kick, but there wasn’t much to it. Cortes-Acosta fired a few low kicks. Another high kick for Lewis was followed by a jab.
A few of Lewis’ swings missed or didn’t land properly. Waldo landed a kick and dumped Lewis, but instead of getting on top, he let ‘The Black Beast’ get back up. Back on his feet, Lewis fired another high kick. Towards the end of the round, Cortes-Acosta landed his jab but didn’t have much behind it.
Lewis took a kick to the body early in the second, forcing Cortes-Acosta back. However, Waldo appeared to hurt Lewis and then landed a knee to the body. If Lewis was injured, and not just off balance, he recovered quickly. Lewis backed Cortes-Acosta with some big swings, but the Dominican bounced off the fence and escaped. He did his best and worked at a more moderate pace compared to Derrick Lewis, who was loading things up.
With two minutes to go, Lewis appeared to fall on his back after a barely-there short punch from Cortes-Acosta. Waldo’s jab had just hit the chin and Lewis might have slipped a little, but anyway he sat down. Cortes-Acosta got on top, Lewis got to his knees and Waldo started unloading punches. That was enough to bring in the referee, and Waldo Cortes-Acosta scored another big win in his march to a possible heavyweight title.
After the fight, Cortes-Acosta told Joe Rogan he was “not surprised” by the outcome. He then called out Curtis Blaydes, whom he accused of talking “a lot of nonsense,” and promised to “shut him up.”
Official result: Waldo Cortes-Acosta def. Derrick Lewis by TKO, round 2, 3:14
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