Waldo Cortes Acosta

[Royce Greasy]

So I noticed Waldo Cortes Acosta is a blue belt level in jiu jitsu and I find that shocking tbh that someone at this level the highest has what is an intermediate level of what is probably one of the main ground styles if not the most important yet I see so many modern UFC fighters with blue belts pretty ridiculous. I don't buy for one second either that you don't need to be at an elite level of jiu jitsu to hang at the highest level of the sport, I think that the rules have been tweaked in such a way that guys can get by with intermediate level grappling skills because there is such an emphasis on stand-up and brawling in the modern UFC for entertainment purposes, this is further evidenced by the reaction from a lot of fans complaining about the performance Chimaev who is a high level grappler who imposed his will and style upon DDP who is imo a striker heavy fighter, Chimaev was such a level that he could bypass the bias rules(stand-ups, no knees etc) and dominate.


There's no way that you can claim that fighters have evolved when guys have blue belt level grappling and rely solely on MT because that's what much of the modern fighters consist of and it's ridiculous to think that elite guys like Couture, Werdum, Mir and hell even Lesnar could not steamroll these current crop of guys with shit grappling like Gane, Tuivasa, Izzy etc, and not only that I truly believe a lot of these dudes are being promoted super fast simply for being good at something completely different than jiu jitsu and it's like oh fuk it here's a BB I do see this going on, what we have right now are a bunch of MT, Kickboxing heavy fighters that the only way they're flourishing the way they are is with the rule-set and 5 minute rounds helps a lot as well as scoring non-significant strikes and significant which leads to terrible decisions UFC leads in that category, I'm almost 100% certain that the current crop of HW's at least get destroyed by the previous 3 generations simply by being one-dimentional and awful at wrestling and jiu jitsu this is just my own observation.

 

[Fahcough]

HW shouldn't train BJJ. They have 265 lb fist. No need to play pajama party on the ground.

 

[Royce Greasy]

HW shouldn't train BJJ. They have 265 lb fist. No need to play pajama party on the ground.

OK casual an idiotic comment to say the least. Not only that they would get destroyed by every other HW from years past, Dan Severn would get 90% of these current guys not joking.

 

[AmonTobin]

I was expecting Waldo to try and grapple and look for a takedown if Pavlovich was beating him in the standup but I don’t think he’s got the IQ for it. Maybe doesn’t have the stamina for it either.

 

[TheMadHatter]

isnt Jon Jones a blue belt? or at least was for the longest time. you cant look too much into belt color of professional fighters. if you are looking at the local gym it means much more than it does in the UFC.

 

[Streeter]

If Waldo knew how to punch he would of had a chance . Those cartoonish windmill shots had no chsnce and tbats all he threw with leg kicks.

 

[Hymen Crusher]

Hw is about sub defense and standing up. A lot of big dudes suck at bjj.

 

[John makfresshi]

Wow can’t believe someone would make their username a professional fighter pun

 

[Georgetowns]

OK casual an idiotic comment to say the least. Not only that they would get destroyed by every other HW from years past, Dan Severn would get 90% of these current guys not joking.

The casual is you thinkin a Servern would do shit these days ...

 

[CatchtheseHands]

I was expecting Waldo to try and grapple and look for a takedown if Pavlovich was beating him in the standup but I don’t think he’s got the IQ for it. Maybe doesn’t have the stamina for it either.

He didn't for the same reason Pav only shot a TD on him once. Both have pretty solid TDD and neither possess the level of wrestling required to take one another down.

 

[sonhow]

Hw is about sub defense and standing up. A lot of big dudes suck at bjj.

Just standing up took Lewis to two title fights.

You have a good point

 

[Safton]

I was expecting Waldo to try and grapple and look for a takedown if Pavlovich was beating him in the standup but I don’t think he’s got the IQ for it. Maybe doesn’t have the stamina for it either.

The only guy Waldo has ever outgrappled is Despaigne -- the Olympic TKD guy playing at MMA who showed a negative understanding of the ground game. Usually Waldo is getting put on the fence, taken down, or controlled himself. He has improved his defensive grappling, but by no means has he shown himself capable of outgrappling Sergei. Safe to say Pavlovich was the better wrestler and likely the more physical/athletic of the two.

Waldo's win condition was using his footwork and volume to out-point Sergei while staying safe or landing a big shot inside the pocket.

 

[jeff7b9]

Just different ways to skin a cat.

Learning to not be put in a situation where you would need high level jiu jitsu is a skill... and a valuable one at that.

 

[Brca031]

Everyone is a black belt nowdays...black belt in jitz doesnt mean shit nowdays...too many bad actors.

 

[Xoleth]

Well, Waldo beat Arlo and Vandera, who have a BB in BJJ, and Spivac, who has a heavy wrestling game.

What stopped these guys to toy with him on the ground?
Did UFC and the fans told them not to go to the ground?

No, OP, the rules have not been that tweaked.
Most UFC champions have (and used) ground game.

I do agree with you regarding Izzy & Gane.
They received an easier path.
Same for Pereira.

 

[VAfan]

there have been plenty of strikers who didn't improve their grappling or BJJ skills much above blue belt or equivalent. if your TDD is good enough you can get by with just that, or at least hope to.

 

[Qays Stetkevich]

OK casual an idiotic comment to say the least. Not only that they would get destroyed by every other HW from years past, Dan Severn would get 90% of these current guys not joking.

There are, throughout HW history and organizations, HWs that have based their entire successful careers off of grappling and BJJ. . . yet we still have clowns on here pretending that just because most modern HWs are fat, lazy, and two-dimensional fighters, that that's the best and only necessary way.

Casual and idiotic indeed.

 

[STAY GOLD]

I agree that it’s odd fighters at this level aren’t brown belts in BJJ at a minimum, but a lot of fighters now train MMA at gyms and don’t train much in a specific discipline as in past times.

 

[Sticko]

Well, Waldo beat Arlo and Vandera, who have a BB in BJJ, and Spivac, who has a heavy wrestling game.

What stopped these guys to toy with him on the ground?
Did UFC and the fans told them not to go to the ground?

No, OP, the rules have not been that tweaked.
Most UFC champions have (and used) ground game.

I do agree with you regarding Izzy & Gane.
They received an easier path.
Same for Pereira.

Prime Izzy had good TDD. A lot of guys tried to take him down and couldn't.

 

[Royce Greasy]

The casual is you thinkin a Servern would do shit these days ...

Funny thing is he would and it wouldn't be shocking to me, he was good enough to beat Buentello, Forest, Dan Christison(2), Eilers, Horn(Draw) these are all guys in the UFC way after Severn's best years and they all had ground skills and you expect me to believe Severn couldn't beat the like's of Tuivasa, Sphivac, Collier, Sherman, Buday lol bunch of these guys either lost to the ghost of Arlovski or just barely scraped by.