Waldo Cortes-Acosta Outlasted Spivac to Extend His
Waldo Cortes-Acosta defeated Serghei Spivac by unanimous decision at UFC 316 on June 7, 2025. The heavyweight contest at Prudential Center in Newark, New Jersey, ended with scores of 30–27, 29–28 and 29–28 after a competitive fifteen-minute encounter.
Spivac’s early pressure met a steady response
Spivac advanced effectively during the opening round and found success with his striking. Cortes-Acosta increased his own output during the second as his opponent’s activity began to decline.
The final round included further pressure from Spivac, but Cortes-Acosta settled and continued landing. The judges unanimously favored the Dominican heavyweight after the completed three rounds.
The victory extended a five-fight winning sequence
Cortes-Acosta had stopped Ryan Spann in the second round in March 2025. His 2024 appearances produced unanimous-decision victories over Andrei Arlovski and Robelis Despaigne.
Those results followed a second-round knockout of Łukasz Brzeski in August 2023. The Spivac decision extended that successful run and supplied another victory against an experienced heavyweight.
A busy year brought further major assignments
Cortes-Acosta later lost a unanimous decision to Sergei Pavlovich in August 2025. He rebounded with first-round stoppages of Ante Delija and Shamil Gaziev during November.
The Spivac result stood within that active campaign as a demanding full-distance win. It required Cortes-Acosta to answer an opponent’s early momentum and remain productive through the final round, rather than relying on an immediate knockout to settle the contest.
Sources
- UFC: changing momentum and competitive three-round exchanges
- UFC: five-fight run and subsequent 2025 results
- UFC: official 30–27, 29–28 and 29–28 scorecards
