Despite winning all three rounds in dominant fashion as an enormous underdog, Dana White condemned Salsa Boy’s victory as one of the worst he’s seen.
Dana White usually loves it when enormous betting underdogs manage to earn upset wins on the global MMA stage, but he certainly took no prisoners as he blasted 12-1 heavyweight Waldo Cortes-Acosta for one of the worst performances he’s seen at UFC St. Louis.
Waldo Cortes-Acosta earns undersized-underdog victory at UFC St. Louis
Heading into UFC St. Louis, heavyweight prospect Waldo Cortes-Acosta was one of the biggest betting underdogs of the entire card; and it wasn’t difficult to see why as he stepped up to face undefeated 6’7” giant Robelis Despaigne.
Yet Despaigne’s hype train came to a meandering stop as Cortes-Acosta was able to secure multiple takedowns by ducking under the Cuban’s 84-inch reach, before spending the vast majority of the 15-minute fight in top position on route to a unanimous decision victory.
Despite winning the contest 30-27, 30-27, and 30-26; UFC President Dana White was quick to criticize the fighter from the Dominican Republic as one of the worst performances on the entire card.
Dana White slammed Cortes-Acosta at the post-fight press conference
Speaking to media members at the post-fight press conference, Dana White started his train of thought on the Cortes-Acosta vs Despaigne fight by celebrating the wild atmosphere generated by the St. Louis crowd:
“I think that everybody who won tonight came out and delivered, I think that when you get the type of fans that you have here and you have the energy, I mean from the first fight of the night this place was almost full and the people were in there going crazy.”
“When you have this type of atmosphere and fans like here in St. Louis, it takes everybody to the next level… Except that fight.”
White acknowledged that he found it difficult to put his frustration with Cortes-Acosta’s ‘lay-and-pray’ game plan into words, reiterating that “It takes everybody to another level except that fight.”
“He won, but if you had to pick [out of] all the fights on the card, and you open the show heading into the [main card when] we’re live on ESPN, you’re opening the show [means] it’s your time to shine and show everybody who you are and that’s your performance? I don’t know.”
White even went as far as to state that if he was ever giving away a post-fight bonus for the worst contest of the event, Cortes-Acosta would have netted himself an extra $50,000.
“If you go through the card and I was going to give out a bonus for s****** fight of the night, who would you guys give it to? Yeah, everybody’s in agreement [that it’s Cortes-Acosta vs Despaigne].
Cortes-Acosta followed up St. Louis victory with a call out of ‘Bigi Boy’
Given the harshness of Dana White’s words, it’s unlikely that Cortes-Acosta will be granted his wish to fight fan-favorite kickboxing specialist Jairzinho ‘Bigi Boy’ Rozenstruik.
Speaking via UFC News, the 32-year-old ‘Salsa Boy’ described Despaigne as a “charging bull” and that “here’s his matador – I tamed him a little bit.”
“I tamed the beast, that being said in the beginning he was very aggressive but we’re there, we were able to control him and control him throughout.”
Cortes-Acosta noted that he wants to fight “twice, maybe three times this year” with just one name on his mind, Jairzinho Rozenstruik:
“This is the time for me to continue my ascension and continue my rise, and I’m going for #11 – Jairzinho Rozenstruik, let’s do this.”
“I want to show people how much I’ve developed my striking, but I want to do one of those bloody fights and I think this would be the one with Jairzinho.”
Heading into UFC St. Louis, Cortes-Acosta was not ranked in the UFC heavyweight division and despite calling for #11 ranked Rozenstruik, it wouldn’t be a surprise not to see him in the Top 15 after Tuesday’s update; given Dana White’s opinion on the performance.