Prediction: Serghei Spivac via Decision
Waldo Cortes-Acosta is the type of heavyweight that looks the part—big, athletic, confident on the feet, and with fast hands that surprise people. You give him space, and he’ll bounce a jab off your face and follow with a sneaky straight right or left hook. And when you strike with him on equal terms, he’s dangerous. There’s real power there, real speed for his size. But when you start digging deeper into his game, there’s a ceiling—because that striking is the whole package. There’s not much else layered underneath. No level changes, no clinch threat, no set ups or misdirection. If you don’t strike with him, you’ve already taken the first step toward beating him.
And that’s exactly what Serghei Spivac is going to do.
Spivac doesn’t pretend to be something he’s not. He’ll paw with a jab, throw a leg kick here and there, maybe even test the waters with a wild overhand. But none of it’s really to win the striking—it’s to get close enough to grab something. Once he does, the fight changes completely. He’s not the biggest heavyweight, but Spivac knows how to manipulate frames and take angles that throw off even the strongest guys. He makes heavyweights look helpless. It’s not flashy—it’s suffocating. Spivac grabs you, adjusts his hips, and next thing you know, you’re on your back, flat, stuck, with a bear of a man blanketing you and slowly cranking up the violence.
Acosta’s never faced a grappler this committed. You can’t just sprawl once and expect Spivac to go away. He’s relentless. And when he gets you down, he doesn’t just hold you—he works. Elbows, punches, positional advances, constant pressure. The easier it gets, the more he opens up. If Waldo gets taken down early—and he will—he’s not getting back up without help from the ref or the bell. Spivac’s top control is a problem most heavyweights don’t have an answer for, and Acosta hasn’t shown he’s the exception.
There’s always that puncher’s chance—Waldo’s hands are quick and heavy, and if Spivac runs in lazy or gets caught trying to set up a clinch, it could go sideways fast. But Spivac’s not that reckless. Even when he crashes forward, it’s calculated chaos. He knows what he’s trying to grab, and he usually gets it. Once he does, this fight’s headed to the mat, and down there, it’s going to look like two different levels of grappling IQ.