The main card opener of UFC St. Louis features a budding heavyweight star Robelis Despaigne against the technical Waldo-Cortes Acosta.
Robelis Despaigne vs. Waldo Cortes-Acosta Preview
Robelis Despaigne has been the latest sensation at heavyweight. Despaigne is considered the best and most intriguing prospect that heavyweight MMA has seen in a bit. His UFC debut only heightened his hype, with an 18-second knockout of Josh Parisian at UFC 299. His last four fights haven’t gone past the 20-second mark of the first round, with all five of his wins in Round 1. He’ll seemingly be fast-tracked to the top of the division if he keeps winning impressively, with his next test being his toughest.
Waldo Cortes-Acosta has found lots of early success in the UFC, with a 4-1 record in the promotion. His boxing is super sharp and technical, but he lacks finishes in the UFC with just one in four wins. The fight features a complete clash as one fighter is known to finish quickly and the other is known to go the distance. Cortes-Acosta is coming off wins against Andre Arlovski and Lukasz Brzeski and is on a two-fight streak.
Recap
The fight started with Despaigne walked Cortes-Acosta down while throwing some massive bombs. Cortes-Acosta did a great job keeping his distance and securing a takedown when he got the opportunity. He held top position and went for a surprising Americana attempt which seemed tight. When Despaigne escaped, Cortes-Acosta landed some hammer fists for top half guard.
Despaigne was worn down to start the second round but still looked for the big knockout blow. He threw some big overhands and kicks but couldn’t land anything clean. Cortes-Acosta started to exchange hands with him after a failed takedown attempt and landed some big counters. Despaigne was finding success going first though, but didn’t land with enough impact due to being tired. Cortes-Acosta landed yet another takedown and quickly moved to mount, landing some big ground and pound while postured until the end of the round.
The two continued to exchange strikes on their feet to start the third round. Despaigne landed a massive front kick to the head, drawing little reaction from Cortes-Acosta, who found yet another takedown. He went for broke attempting to finish the fight late in Round 3 but Despaigne stayed alive and got to his first career decision.
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