Dominican heavyweight contender Waldo Cortes Acosta continued his remarkable 2025 as he stepped in on late notice and knocked out Shamil Gaziev at UFC Qatar.
Cortes Acosta needed just 82 seconds to finish Bahrain’s Gaziev with a huge punch as he claimed his 16th career victory to put himself back in the headlines after his dramatic come-from-behind knockout of Ante Delija at UFC Fight Night: Garcia vs Onama in Las Vegas earlier this month.
The Final Verdict: Waldo Cortes Acosta wins on multiple levels with short-notice KO
When you’re a contender looking to break from the pack, there are a number of different things you can do to keep your name in the forefront of the minds of UFC matchmakers.
By stepping in on just three days’ notice to save a main card fight on an important UFC event, then delivering a crowd-pleasing knockout, Cortes Acosta did exactly that as he proved that he’s a company man, and a dangerous contender with legitimate knockout power.
ON THREE DAYS’ NOTICE 😱 🇩🇴 #UFCQatar
Waldo Cortes Acosta KO’s Shamil Gaziev in round one! pic.twitter.com/tNZeUQWgy9
— UFC Europe (@UFCEurope) November 22, 2025
Cortes Acosta’s incredible 2025 continues – and he isn’t finished yet
Cortes Acosta’s knockout victory at UFC Qatar was his fifth outing of 2025, and his run over the course of the calendar year has seen him go from a fringe contender to a man who could now be on the verge of breaking into the top five.
He kicked off his 2025 in March with a second-round knockout of Ryan Spann at the UFC APEX, then followed up with a unanimous decision victory over Serghei Spivac at UFC 316 in Newark, New Jersey three months later.
A unanimous decision defeat to Sergei Pavlovich in Shanghai saw Cortes Acosta suffer only the second loss of his career, but he bounced back on November 1 with a stunning comeback KO of Ante Delija after sustaining a nasty eye poke that threatened to end the fight.
And this weekend, he stepped in to face Gaziev, and promptly demolished his opponent to register back-to-back knockouts and cement himself as one of the most interesting emerging contenders in the UFC heavyweight division.
What’s next for Waldo Cortes Acosta?
Incredibly, despite fighting five times already in 2025, Cortes Acosta wants to squeeze in one more fight before the end of the year, and called for a fight at the UFC’s end-of-year pay-per-view show on December 6 – just two weeks from now.
Given the favour he just did the matchmakers by stepping in in Qatar, they might just grant him his wish. The big question is, who wants to step up to face him on two weeks’ notice?
UFC Qatar: Official results
MAIN CARD
- Arman Tsarukyan def. Dan Hooker via submission (arm-triangle choke) – Round 2, 3:34
- Ian Machado Garry def. Belal Muhammad via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 29-28)
- Volkan Oezdemir def. Alonzo Menifield via knockout (punches) – Round 1, 1:27
- Myktbek Orolbai def. Jack Hermansson via knockout (punch) – Round 1, 2:46
- Waldo Cortes Acosta def. Shamil Gaziev knockout (punch) – Round 1, 1:22
- Kyoji Horiguchi def. Tagir Ulanbekov via submission (rear-naked choke) – Round 3, 2:18
PRELIMINARY CARD
- Luke Riley def. Bogdan Grad via knockout (punches) – Round 2, 0:30
- Nicolas Dalby def. Saygid Izagakhmaev via split decision (29-28, 28-29, 29-28)
- Asu Almabayev def. Alex Perez via submission (guillotine choke) – Round 3, 0:22
- Abdul-Rakhman Yakhyaev def. Rafael Cerqueira via submission (rear-naked choke) – Round 1, 0:33
- Aleksandre Topuria def. Beksat Almakhan via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 29-28)
- Ismail Naurdiev def. Ryan Loder via knockout (punch) – Round 1, 1:26
- Nurullo Aliev def. Shem Rock via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-27)
- Denzel Freeman def. Marek Bujlo via unanimous decision (30-27, 29-28, 29-28)
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