Tag: Robelis Despaigne

‘This is MMA’: UFC’s Waldo Cortes-Acosta responds to ‘unfair’ criticism of Robelis Despaigne win

Waldo Cortes-Acosta calls unfair the criticism around his performance in his win over Robelis Despaigne.

[autotag]Waldo Cortes-Acosta[/autotag] took on a very dangerous striker in the heavyweight division and gave him his first professional loss while having a dominant showing. Yet, despite getting the job done, some are throwing criticism his way.

This past Saturday on the main card of UFC on ESPN 56, Cortes-Acosta (12-1 MMA, 5-1 UFC) defeated Olympic medalist in taekwondo [autotag]Robelis Despaigne[/autotag] in a clear unanimous decision that read 30-27 on two judges scorecards and 30-26 on another. Cortes-Acosta mixed his wrestling with striking defense to defeat the decorated striker Despaigne (5-1 MMA, 1-1 UFC), who’s 6-foot-7 and has the longest wingspan in the promotion.

Many, including UFC CEO Dana White, wanted to see a heavyweight striking slugfest, which Cortes-Acosta finds to be an unfair expectation.

“They’re unfair because this is MMA,” Cortes-Acosta said around the public criticism of his performance, speaking with MMA Junkie in Spanish. “This is a combination of martial arts where you do striking and kicking, but you also go to the ground. There’s a lot to this.

“So criticizing me in that manner, it takes away what MMA is really about. There’s boxing, Lomachenko was fighting this weekend. If you want just boxing, go watch him. We’re mixing everything up, and that means the ground game as well.”

If you follow Cortes-Acosta on social media, you know he’s not one to shy away from fan criticism – quite the opposite. Cortes-Acosta has been going back and forth with some of his critics, and he’s been enjoying it.

“That’s social media, and you have to engage,” Cortes-Acosta said. “Speaking of clashing with fans, I finished my fight early on Saturday, and I was off my phone for about four hours, and when I checked, I had to reply to about 4,000 messages from different people, and I replied to every single one of them.

“I didn’t sleep that night. I just hopped directly on the plane, and I’m still replying to messages.”

The Dominican heavyweight is now 5-1 since joining the UFC in 2022. He’s happy with the way his career is going not only because he’s been rising up the rankings, but also showing evolution to his game, which is something his fans have appreciated.

“There’s always going to be critics and people saying the worst things about you and all that, but a lot of people that criticized me or didn’t know about me are now cheering for me because I showed things that I had never done before in the octagon,” Cortes-Acosta said. “They see me with different eyes. I’m not just a boxer and a striker, but I can wrestle, too.”

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Dana White: Waldo Cortes-Acosta’s win over Robelis Despaigne ‘sh*ttiest fight of the night’ at UFC St. Louis

Dana White did not hold back when assessing Waldo Cortes-Acosta’s win at UFC Fight Night 241.

[autotag]Dana White[/autotag] did not hold back when assessing [autotag]Waldo Cortes-Acosta[/autotag]’s win at UFC Fight Night 241.

Cortes-Acosta (12-1 MMA, 5-1 UFC) scored a big upset win over highly touted heavyweight [autotag]Robelis Despaigne[/autotag] (5-1 MMA, 1-1 UFC) in this past Saturday’s main card opener at Enterprise Center in St. Louis.

The UFC CEO was not a fan of Cortes-Acosta’s performance in front of the electric St. Louis crowd.

“When you have this type of atmosphere and fans like here in St. Louis, it takes everybody to the next level – except that fight,” White said during the UFC on ESPN 56 post-fight press conference.

Cortes-Acosta, who’s on a three-fight winning streak, used a grapple-heavy approach to stay out of trouble against the dangerous Despaigne. He landed three takedowns and logged in almost two rounds of control time en route to a lopsided unanimous decision.

“He won, but if you had to pick all the fights on the card, and you open the show heading into the (main card), we’re live on ESPN, you’re opening the show, it’s your time to shine and show everybody who you are and that’s your performance? I don’t know,” White said. “If you go through the card and I was going to give out a bonus for sh*ttiest fight of the night, who would you guys give it to? Yeah, everybody’s in agreement.”

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For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC on ESPN 56.

UFC on ESPN 56 Promotional Guidelines Compliance pay: 2024 total passes $3 million

UFC on ESPN 56 fighters took home UFC Promotional Guidelines Compliance pay, a program that continued after the UFC’s deal with Venum.

ST. LOUIS – Fighters from Saturday’s UFC on ESPN 56 event took home UFC Promotional Guidelines Compliance pay totaling $186,000.

The program, a comprehensive plan that includes outfitting requirements, media obligations and other items under the fighter code of conduct, replaces the previous payments made under the UFC Athlete Outfitting Policy.

UFC on ESPN 56 took place at Enterprise Arena. The card aired on ESPN and streamed on ESPN+.

The full UFC on ESPN 56 UFC Promotional Guidelines Compliance payouts included:

* * * *

[autotag]Derrick Lewis[/autotag]: $21,000
def. [autotag]Rodrigo Nascimento[/autotag]: $6,000

[autotag]Joaquin Buckley[/autotag]: $11,000
def. [autotag]Nursulton Ruziboev[/autotag]: $4,000

[autotag]Carlos Ulberg[/autotag]: $6,000
def. [autotag]Alonzo Menifield[/autotag]: $11,000

[autotag]Diego Ferreira[/autotag]: $11,000
def. [autotag]Mateusz Rebecki[/autotag]: $4,500

[autotag]Sean Woodson[/autotag]: $6,000
def. [autotag]Alex Caceres[/autotag]: $21,000

[autotag]Waldo Cortes-Acosta[/autotag]: $6,000
def. [autotag]Robelis Despaigne[/autotag]: $4,000

[autotag]Chase Hooper[/autotag]: $6,000
def. [autotag]Viacheslav Borshchev[/autotag]: $6,000

[autotag]Esteban Ribovics[/autotag]: $4,000
def. [autotag]Terrance McKinney[/autotag]: $6,000

[autotag]Tabatha Ricci[/autotag]: $6,000
def. [autotag]Tecia Pennington[/autotag]: $16,000

[autotag]Trey Waters[/autotag]: $4,000
def. [autotag]Billy Ray Goff[/autotag]: $4,000

[autotag]Charles Johnson[/autotag]: $6,000
def. [autotag]Jake Hadley[/autotag]: $4,500

[autotag]Veronica Hardy[/autotag]: $6,000
def. [autotag]JJ Aldrich[/autotag]: $6,000

Under the UFC Promotional Guidelines Compliance program’s payout tiers, which appropriate the money generated by Venum’s multi-year sponsorship with the UFC, fighters are paid based on their total number of UFC bouts, as well as Zuffa-era WEC fights (January 2007 and later) and Zuffa-era Strikeforce bouts (April 2011 and later). Fighters with 1-3 bouts receive $4,000 per appearance; 4-5 bouts get $4,560; 6-10 bouts get $6,000; 11-15 bouts earn $11,000; 16-20 bouts pocket $16,000; and 21 bouts and more get $21,000. Additionally, champions earn $56,000 while title challengers get $56,000.

In addition to experience-based pay, UFC fighters will receive in perpetuity royalty payments amounting to 20-56 percent of any UFC merchandise sold that bears their likeness, according to officials.

Full 2024 UFC Promotional Guidelines Compliance payouts:

Year-to-date total: $3,106,000
2023 total: $8,188,000
2022 total: $8,351,500
2021 total: $6,167,500
Program-to-date total: $25,843,000

For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC on ESPN 56.

Waldo Cortes-Acosta def. Robelis Despaigne at UFC on ESPN 56: Best photos

Check out the best photos from Waldo Cortes-Acosta’s unanimous decision win over Robelis Despaigne at UFC on ESPN 56.

Check out the best photos from [autotag]Waldo Cortes-Acosta[/autotag]’s unanimous decision win over [autotag]Robelis Despaigne[/autotag] at UFC on ESPN 56 at Enterprise Center in St. Louis. (Fight and venue photos by Jeff Le, USA Today Sports)

Waldo Cortes-Acosta vs. Robelis Despaigne prediction, pick, start time, odds for UFC on ESPN 56

MMA Junkie analyst Dan Tom takes a quick look at the UFC on ESPN 56 bout between Waldo Cortes-Acosta and Robelis Despaigne.

[autotag]Waldo Cortes-Acosta[/autotag] and [autotag]Robelis Despaigne[/autotag] meet Saturday in the main card opener of UFC on ESPN 56 from Enterprise Center in St. Louis. Check out this quick breakdown of the matchup from MMA Junkie analyst Dan Tom.  

Waldo Cortes-Acosta vs. Robelis Despaigne UFC on ESPN 56 preview

Cortes-Acosta (11-1 MMA, 4-1 UFC) and Despaigne (19-1 MMA, 1-0 UFC) get the main card started with a heavyweight bout that might not make it out of the first round. … Cortes-Acosta has won his last two fights, stopping Lukas Brzeski in the first round with punches and winning a unanimous decision over former champion Andrei Arlovski in his first fight of the year in January. … Despaigne brings his undefeated record to the UFC’s octagon for the second time, following an impressive debut that he won by knockout in just 18 seconds. The Cuban Olympian has not seen Round 2 in his young professional MMA career.

Waldo Cortes-Acosta vs. Robelis Despaigne expert pick, prediction

Even though we have surefire action fights like Terrance McKinney and Esteban Ribovics stuck on the prelims (not to mention a continually underserved men’s flyweight division), the powers that be continue to double down on the big boys by force-feeding us unproven heavyweights on Fight Night main cards.

In defense of the UFC matchmakers, both Cortes-Acosta and Despaigne are considered prospects – at least by heavyweight standards.

Despaigne, who appears to be the new hotness in the division, is an undeniable athletic force who comes from an Olympic-level taekwondo background. The Cuban fighter is still green with a small sample size, but that’s not stopping tumescent MMA gamblers from backing Despaigne at the betting window, hand over fist.

Cortes-Acosta, on the other hand, might be the most hated fighter since Ihot Potieria did his ‘duelist dance’ over the lifeless body of Mauricio Rua in Brazil.

Already possessing a style that arguably shoots itself in the foot with its flash-to-function ratio, Cortes-Acosta decided to double down on his unlikeability by blatantly disrespecting UFC legend Andrei Arlovski in his last outing.

I hope we get to see more of Despaigne regardless of the result here, but I’ll take the bait by making the cathartic prediction of picking “The Big Boy” to emphatically knock Cortes-Acosta out at the end of Round 1.

Waldo Cortes-Acosta vs. Robelis Despaigne odds

The odds makers and the public favor the less-proven heavyweight, listing Despaigne a healthy -250, with Cortes-Acosta a +198 underdog via FanDuel. Cortes-Acosta only has one loss in five UFC fights, and it was the only other time he was listed as an underdog; he lost a unanimous decision to Marcos Rogerio de Lima. The undefeated Despaigne’s UFC debut only lasted 18 seconds, and entered that bout against Josh Parisian as a -400 favorite.

Waldo Cortes-Acosta vs. Robelis Despaigne start time, how to watch

As the main card opener, Cortes-Acosta and Despaigne are expected to make their walk shortly after the main card begins, around 7:05 p.m. ET (4:05 p.m. PT). The fight broadcasts live on ESPN and streams on ESPN+.

For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC on ESPN 56.

For more detailed analysis from Dan Tom, check out his weekly show, “The Protect Ya’ Neck Podcast.”

Robelis Despaigne sees himself fighting for UFC heavyweight title in 2025

Unbeaten heavyweight knockout artist Robelis Despaigne doesn’t see himself too far from fighting for the UFC heavyweight title.

[autotag]Robelis Despaigne[/autotag] might be new to MMA and the UFC, yet he doesn’t see himself too far from fighting for the heavyweight title.

The unbeaten prospect believes that in 2025 he will be challenging whoever is the UFC heavyweight champion. Despaigne (19-1 MMA, 1-0 UFC) thinks a win over Waldo Cortes-Acosta (11-1 MMA, 4-1 UFC) this Saturday at UFC on ESPN 56 in St. Louis, plus a few more this year will put him into contention to be fighting for the belt early next year.

“Look, if all goes according to plan, I think that by the beginning of next year I’ll be fighting for the UFC heavyweight title, or at least the interim,” Despaigne told MMA Junkie in Spanish.

With UFC heavyweight champion Jon Jones injured, Stipe Miocic waiting on the sidelines, and interim champ Tom Aspinall’s future up in the air, Despaigne hopes that things clear up by the time he gets to the title picture.

He believes Jones will beat Miocic in his return, but sees Aspinall eventually taking the belt.

“That is a close fight, but if it’s a matter of momentum, I think that Aspinall can pull it off and win the crown,” Despaigne said. “But we know the quality that Jon Jones has, so he can always surprise.”

If Despaigne were to win a UFC title, he’d be the first Cuban fighter in the history of the UFC. For the Olympic bronze medalist in taekwondo, that would be special.

“For me, that would be a dream to be champion of the UFC, and it would make me proud.”

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For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC on ESPN 56.

After 18-second debut, Robelis Despaigne books quick return at UFC St. Louis

Heavyweight prospect Robelis Despaigne has booked his second UFC fight.

[autotag]Robelis Despaigne[/autotag] has his second assignment in the UFC.

The undefeated heavyweight prospect will take on [autotag]Waldo Cortes-Acosta[/autotag] on May 11 at a UFC Fight Night event in St. Louis.

The news first was announced by Despaigne’s manager, AJ Ariosa, of First Round Management, on Tuesday. MMA Junkie confirmed the matchup with an additional person with knowledge of the matchup who asked to remain anonymous because the UFC hasn’t made an official announcement.

Despaigne (5-0 MMA, 1-0 UFC), who has the longest reach in UFC history, debuted earlier this month at UFC 299 in Miami. He quickly dispatched Josh Parisian with a bonus-winning 18-second TKO. The 35-year-old is an Olympic medalist in taekwondo from Cuba and considered one of the most interesting prospects in the UFC’s heavyweight division.

His opponent, Cortes-Acosta (10-1 MMA, 4-1 UFC), is coming off the biggest win of his career. “Salsa Boy” defeated former UFC heavyweight champion Andrei Arlovski in January. He’s on a two-fight winning streak after his first professional loss to Marcos Rogerio de Lima in April 2023.

No other fights have been made official for the UFC’s return to St. Louis, which will be the promotion’s first time there in more than six years.

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UFC 299 Promotional Guidelines Compliance pay: Sean O’Malley’s $42,000 tops card

Fighters from Saturday’s UFC 299 took home UFC Promotional Guidelines Compliance pay totaling $359,000.

MIAMI – Fighters from Saturday’s UFC 299 event took home UFC Promotional Guidelines Compliance pay totaling $359,000.

The program, a comprehensive plan that includes outfitting requirements, media obligations and other items under the fighter code of conduct, replaces the previous payments made under the UFC Athlete Outfitting Policy.

UFC 299 took place at Kaseya Center. The main card aired on pay-per-view following prelims on ESPNews and ESPN+.

The full UFC 299 UFC Promotional Guidelines Compliance payouts included:

* * * *

[autotag]Sean O’Malley[/autotag]: $42,000
def. [autotag]Marlon Vera[/autotag]: $32,000

[autotag]Dustin Poirier[/autotag]: $21,000
def. [autotag]Benoit Saint-Denis[/autotag]: $6,000

[autotag]Michael Page[/autotag]: $4,000
def. [autotag]Kevin Holland[/autotag]: $21,000

[autotag]Jack Della Maddalena[/autotag]: $6,000
def. [autotag]Gilbert Burns[/autotag]: $21,000;

[autotag]Petr Yan[/autotag]: $11,000
def. [autotag]Song Yadong[/autotag]: $11,000

[autotag]Curtis Blaydes[/autotag]: $16,000
def. [autotag]Jailton Almeida[/autotag]: $6,000

[autotag]Maycee Barber[/autotag]: $11,000
def. [autotag]Katlyn Cerminara[/autotag]: $16,000

[autotag]Mateusz Gamrot[/autotag]: $6,000
def. [autotag]Rafael dos Anjos[/autotag]: $21,000

[autotag]Kyler Phillips[/autotag]: $6,000
def. [autotag]Pedro Munhoz[/autotag]: $21,000

[autotag]Ion Cutelaba[/autotag]: $11,000
def. [autotag]Philipe Lins[/autotag]: $6,000

[autotag]Michel Pereira[/autotag]: $6,000
def. [autotag]Michal Oleksiejczuk[/autotag]: $11,000

[autotag]Robelis Despaigne[/autotag]: $4,000
def. [autotag]Josh Parisian[/autotag]: $6,000

[autotag]Asu Almabaev[/autotag]: $4,000
def. [autotag]CJ Vergara[/autotag]: $6,000

[autotag]Joanne Wood[/autotag]: $16,000
def. [autotag]Maryna Moroz[/autotag]: $11,000

Under the UFC Promotional Guidelines Compliance program’s payout tiers, which appropriate the money generated by Venum’s multi-year sponsorship with the UFC, fighters are paid based on their total number of UFC bouts, as well as Zuffa-era WEC fights (January 2007 and later) and Zuffa-era Strikeforce bouts (April 2011 and later). Fighters with 1-3 bouts receive $4,000 per appearance; 4-5 bouts get $4,500; 6-10 bouts get $6,000; 11-15 bouts earn $11,000; 16-20 bouts pocket $16,000; and 21 bouts and more get $21,000. Additionally, champions earn $42,000 while title challengers get $32,000.

In addition to experience-based pay, UFC fighters will receive in perpetuity royalty payments amounting to 20-30 percent of any UFC merchandise sold that bears their likeness, according to officials.

Full 2024 UFC Promotional Guidelines Compliance payouts:

Year-to-date total: $1,362,000
2023 total: $8,188,000
2022 total: $8,351,500
2021 total: $6,167,500
Program-to-date total: $24,069,000

For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC 299.

UFC 299 video: Robelis Despaigne blasts Josh Parisian with counter right for 18-second debut KO

Heavyweight newcomer Robelis Despaigne was as advertised at UFC 299, winning his debut in just 18 seconds.

[autotag]Robelis Despaigne[/autotag] was as advertised at UFC 299.

Despaigne (5-0 MMA, 1-0 UFC) dispatched Josh Parisian (15-8 MMA, 2-5 UFC) with a blistering counter right hook at just the 18-second mark of Round 1 Saturday in Miami. The heavyweight bout was on the early prelims at Kaseya Center.

Despaigne has never gone past Round 1. The Taekwondo Olympic bronze medalist’s past four fights have lasted a combined 37 seconds.

Up-to-the-minute UFC 299 results include:

  • Robelis Despaigne def. Josh Parisian via KO (punch) – Round 1, 0:18
  • Asu Almabaev def. CJ Vergara via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-27)
  • Joanne Wood def. Maryna Moroz via split decision (29-28, 28-29, 29-28)

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For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC 299.

Robelis Despaigne def. Josh Parisian at UFC 299: Best photos

Check out the best photos from Robelis Despaigne’s first-round knockout win over Josh Parisian at UFC 299

Check out the best photos from [autotag]Robelis Despaigne[/autotag]’s first-round knockout win over [autotag]Josh Parisian[/autotag] at UFC 299 at Kaseya Center in Miami. (Fight and venue photos by Sam Navarro, USA Today Sports; UFC; Getty Images)