Waldo Cortes-Acosta believes he can earn a heavyweight title shot with a win at UFC 328.
Cortes-Acosta is set to take on Alexander Volkov on the main card of UFC 328 in Newark, New Jersey, in a pivotal heavyweight bout. The winner of the fight will be near the title picture, but Cortes-Acosta believes he can earn a title shot with a win.
Although Alex Pereira and Ciryl Gane are set to fight for the interim belt next month, Cortes-Acosta believes that with the right timing and a good performance, he can leapfrog them.
‘I might get the opportunity’
“I believe a win over Volkov this Saturday, while also keeping in mind that Ciryl Gane is fighting at the White House, along with other heavyweights, I will be free and will have the time to prepare,” Cortes-Acosta said at UFC 328 media day. “And will have the opportunity to fight Tom Aspinall since he’s waiting for a fight. We know that Volkov already beat Ciryl Gane. They’re not going to want to put him against Aspinall. So if I beat Volkov, I might get the opportunity to fight Aspinall.”
Cortes-Acosta is 17-2 as a pro and coming off a TKO win over Derrick Lewis and is on a three-fight winning streak. He’s been on an impressive run, so earning a title shot with a win isn’t out of the question. In the UFC, he’s 10-2 and has notable wins over Shamil Gaziev, Serghei Spivac, Ante Delija, and Andrei Arlovski, among others.
However, defeating Volkov will be easier said than done. The Russian is 39-11 and arguably beat Gane two fights ago, showing the level he’s at. In his UFC tenure, the Russian has notable wins over Sergei Pavlovich, Alistair Overeem, Fabricio Werdum, and Marcin Tybura, among others.
Yet, Cortes-Acosta is confident he will be able to pull off the upset at UFC 328 to cement himself as a heavyweight title contender.
Do you think Waldo Cortes-Acosta will beat Alexander Volkov at UFC 328?