Heavyweight Secures Amazing Win in 2025’s Wildest Fight

It took some doing to get the victory, but now that the dust has settled on Saturday night’s schedule at the UFC Apex, Cortes-Acosta’s win is one that he’ll remember for a long time. His opponent on Saturday night was No. 9 contender Ante Delija. 

All you really need to know about the co-main event of the evening at UFC Vegas 110 on Saturday night is what transpired during two sequences of events. Spoiler alert: Both Waldo Cortes-Acosta and Ante Delija brought the drama to the fabled Octagon inside the UFC Apex on the opening night of November.

Waldo Cortes-Acosta Loses by Knockout… Briefly, in Co-Main Event of UFC Vegas 110

The co-main attraction of the evening at UFC Vegas 110 was set for an advertised three rounds at five minutes per round and Ante Delija was intent on making sure that this fight wouldn’t go the 15 minutes. At least, this is how it looked initially.

At first, Ante Delija delivered a barrage of vicious, thunderous punches and it appeared as though the ninth-ranked heavyweight won the contest. However, Delija, in his haste to finish the fight, was shown to have landed an inadvertent poke to Waldo Cortes-Acosta’s eye when the sequence was reviewed by instant replay during the stoppage.

According to UFC protocol, in the event of an injury timeout, as was the case here, Cortes-Acosta was allowed five minutes of recovery time. After the injury timeout lapsed, the No. 6 heavyweight pronounced himself fit to continue.

Waldo Cortes-Acosta Uses Injury Timeout Advantageously, Storms Back to Win Co-Main Event

Upon the resumption of the fight, Cortes-Acosta left zero doubt as to whether or not he’d have enough energy left in his gas tank to complete an astounding comeback. He uncorked a vicious right-handed punch to sit Ante Delija down. A flurry of ground and pound shots served as the exclamation point to this wild contest.

Although it lasted three minutes and 59 seconds in the Octagon on Saturday evening, the contest which matched Waldo Cortes-Acosta against Ante Delija was one for the ages if thought about.

This heavyweight tussle had a little bit of everything, including a finish that nobody could have seen coming when the fight started just before 9 pm ET Saturday evening. Fights in the heavyweight division are, by nature, supposed to bring the excitement to the fans.

Cortes-Acosta Receives Well-Earned $50K Cash Advance at Post-Fight Press Conference

During Saturday night’s UFC Vegas 110 post-fight press conference, it was revealed that Waldo Cortes-Acosta would be among those winners to receive $50,000 (USD) in bonus money, with Cortes-Acosta’s bonus coming for the Performance of the Night Award.

After the fight, Waldo Cortes-Acosta spoke with UFC Hall of Famer Daniel Cormier on the telecast of UFC Vegas 110, discussing his reaction to the eye poke.

“I felt that finger did go inside my eye,” Cortes-Acosta began. “The referee said to stop [the fight], but I decided to continue because I felt like I could continue. My eyes were like [at] 20 percent vision. I said “I don’t give a (censored).”

Cortes-Acosta used his airtime on Saturday night to challenge Tom Aspinall to a fight. UFC Vegas 110 happened one week after Aspinall’s initial defense of the UFC Heavyweight Championship ended on a sour note.

A week ago Saturday in UFC 321, Aspinall suffered an eye poke of his own from challenger Ciryl Gane in the main event of the evening, resulting in the title fight being ruled a no-contest. Seven days later, another eye poke occurred inside the cage. Unlike last week, Saturday night produced a definitive winner.

Final Thoughts

While Waldo Cortes-Acosta may or may not get his wish to fight Tom Aspinall in a future contest, there is one certainty about his performance inside the cage this weekend: The No. 6 contender at heavyweight took part in what may end up being the wildest fight of 2025.

With only five shows left from MMA’s top promotion after UFC Vegas 110 on Saturday, this performance from Waldo Cortes-Acosta will be most difficult to top for fight of the year. Unless, and perhaps until, something even wilder takes place inside the cage in the remaining shows, what we saw this weekend takes the cake for craziness in the UFC in 2025.