Why are people are sleeping on Waldo Acosta?

[CatchtheseHands]

They're feeding him easy fights to gaslight people like you into thinking he's better than he is.

HW is atrocious right now, which is why Waldo is ranked in the top 15 after beating 4 cans. I wouldn't be shocked if he beats Spivak, although I wouldn't bet on it. But there's a massive drop-off after the top 7 (Jones, Aspinall, Volkov, Gane, Pavlovich, and Jailton). Waldo isn't cracking the top 5.

Lmao, the UFC feeding him easy fights to gas light people into thinking he's better than he is? The UFC has barely done anything with him at all and haven't bothered to give him a push until now because he finished Ryan Spann. What are you even goin on about man?

I agree Waldo isn't cracking top 5 NOW but if he continues to improve I really think he could.

He's just not very good IMO. He's technically 5-1 in the UFC, but that doesn't tell the whole story. Vanderaa and Sherman were both awful fighters who accomplished nothing in the UFC and Acosta arguably lost to the former. Brzeski is another awful fighter who was served up as a showcase for Waldo. Arlovski is so old he should be drawing Social Security checks, yet he also managed to take Waldo to a razor-thin Decision. With Robelis they found the one dude who knows even less about being a well-rounded fighter than Waldo himself and had very little experience in MMA and Waldo exploited it; Despaigne has since rage-quit the sport. Spann was coming from a rough go of things at 205 where he took a lot of damage and was new to the weight class and has always been a flawed fighter, though I will give Waldo credit in that at least this is a dude who was ranked in an ostensibly more talented division.

But then there's de Lima. de Lima is the one guy who recognized early on how limited Waldo is and wrote the book on how to beat him. I'm just amazed no one else has copied his homework: kick the dude's legs, introduce the threat of the takedown, and don't hang out in the pocket and let him tee off on you. Marcos outhustled him pretty badly and showed just how lacking his skill set is. I think a lot of Heavyweights have the ability to do the same. Waldo has fast hands and some pop in his shots, but his footwork & shot selection are inconsistent and he has no other facets to his game. Totally fails to pick up on kicks and his grappling is very much a work-in-progress.

I suspect Spivak will outgrapple him pretty badly (especially because Spivak's offensive boxing is underrated), but Sergey's chin is questionable and Waldo -- to his credit -- has survived underneath grapplers before even after they were able to take him down and hold him down.

I agree with your break down but Waldo has shown improvements since the De Lima fight (good fight IQ and game planning in the Rebelis fight and Spann fight) and he sounds like he's pretty motivated to get better. Although he's not a top 5 guy RIGHT NOW. I very much think he could become pretty dangerous if he stays on the path and keeps improving.

 

[EnthusiastCultivator]

He’s good but the guy who’s really slept on at HW is Mario Pinto, undefeated, huge for the division and cracks like a nuke. Future champ for sure, also Kennedy Nzechukwu is looking real good at HW and will probably be in top 10 sooner rather than later .

 

[Tweak896]

He's top 10 in the division that has Lewis and Tuivasa in it. But who knows if he'll beat Spivac or Tybura who are kind of like the gatekeepers right now. He doesn't seem that great to me, but is the right age to maybe get lucky.

I could see him KO one of the gatekeepers, then either catch Blaydes who stupidly might stand or outwork Pavlovich. Then he probably could get a title shot.

So he's 3 lucky KO's away from being champ if UFC keeps launching him upwards. I just don't see him doing it, but we'll see. His TDD is going to mean everything.

 

[burningspear]

in context of the HW division he's pretty good

 

[Skarsgard]

Yeah they aren't the best wins but it's not really his fault he hasn't had a chance to show against better opponents. The UFC hasn't been willing to give him anyone in the top 10 until now.

He just got a finish in his last fight.

Yeah because beating Pav, Blaydes or Volkov means they suck, not that he's good.

Mir vs Cro Cop ended in a nasty KO. Doesn't mean it was awesome.

 

[Blastbeat]

we're sleeping on him because his fighting style generally puts people to sleep. he's dull.
dude is boring and has no urgency. only dudes he's been able to stop have been guys that repeatedly get KO'd (Brezcki, Spann).
also arguably lost to Arlovski, not too long ago

 

[Safton]

I agree with your break down but Waldo has shown improvements since the De Lima fight (good fight IQ and game planning in the Rebelis fight and Spann fight) and he sounds like he's pretty motivated to get better. Although he's not a top 5 guy RIGHT NOW. I very much think he could become pretty dangerous if he stays on the path and keeps improving.

I dunno. Personally I'm not convinced based solely on those fights. The Robelis fight, sure, good on him and his team for recognizing that Despaigne was not a novice playing at MMA and that the grappling was one area where he had more reps. But that was sort of a one-off situation and not likely to be replicated, even at HW where there's a relative dearth of grappling skills.

Against Spann... honestly that fight was more of a case of "flawed chinny fighter moves up in weight and gets hit by a heavy-handed dude while fighting a stupid gameplan of his own" as opposed to proof positive of any tactical mastery or improvement in skill sets from Waldo. Spann has always had a lot of deficiencies, but even then I feel like he fought really poorly against Acosta even by his typical standards whereas Waldo sort of just fought like Waldo and was able to dictate how things played out as such.

If Waldo regularly starts mixing in & checking kicks, stuffing takedowns, and offensively grappling I'll happily retract my statement. But for now he feels more like a product of the sorry state of the division who's led a charmed run, not a true prospect. I think he has a solid chance to spring an upset over Spivak, but I view Sergey as the more talented and proven fighter by a healthy margin.

 

[CatchtheseHands]

I dunno. Personally I'm not convinced based solely on those fights. The Robelis fight, sure, good on him and his team for recognizing that Despaigne was not a novice playing at MMA and that the grappling was one area where he had more reps. But that was sort of a one-off situation and not likely to be replicated, even at HW where there's a relative dearth of grappling skills.

Against Spann... honestly that fight was more of a case of "flawed chinny fighter moves up in weight and gets hit by a heavy-handed dude while fighting a stupid gameplan of his own" as opposed to proof positive of any tactical mastery or improvement in skill sets from Waldo. Spann has always had a lot of deficiencies, but even then I feel like he fought really poorly against Acosta even by his typical standards whereas Waldo sort of just fought like Waldo and was able to dictate how things played out as such.

If Waldo regularly starts mixing in & checking kicks, stuffing takedowns, and offensively grappling I'll happily retract my statement. But for now he feels more like a product of the sorry state of the division who's led a charmed run, not a true prospect. I think he has a solid chance to spring an upset over Spivak, but I view Sergey as the more talented and proven fighter by a healthy margin.

Fair opinion. I dunno, I'm not saying Waldo is a world beater but he seems different from the other HW's outside of the top 10. Come this weekend we'll see if I'm right.

 

[Safton]

Fair opinion. I dunno, I'm not saying Waldo is a world beater but he seems different from the other HW's outside of the top 10. Come this weekend we'll see if I'm right.

He's better than the bottom-feeders of the division and I'm open to the idea of him potentially improving, but I think there are actually a couple of dudes ranked below him outside the Top 10 who potentially could beat him and/or have slightly higher ceilings. But it is what it is.

 

[CatchtheseHands]

He's better than the bottom-feeders of the division and I'm open to the idea of him potentially improving, but I think there are actually a couple of dudes ranked below him outside the Top 10 who potentially could beat him and/or have slightly higher ceilings. But it is what it is.

Who would these guys be? Out of curiosity not for argument sake. Like hype job Mick Parkin lost to Tybura as did Jhonata Diniz. Thomas Peterson lost to don Tale Mayes who is on a losing skid. Shamil gaziev is ok but got out worked by Rozen who is historically low out put and lack of grappling is exploitable yet Shamil couldn't take him down.

 

[Ladder Master]

I won’t be sleeping on his fight, just
skipping it and doing something more interesting.

 

[Safton]

Who would these guys be? Out of curiosity not for argument sake. Like hype job Mick Parkin lost to Tybura as did Jhonata Diniz. Thomas Peterson lost to don Tale Mayes who is on a losing skid. Shamil gaziev is ok but got out worked by Rozen who is historically low out put and lack of grappling is exploitable yet Shamil couldn't take him down.

I think Tybura beats Waldo, too. The fact that Parkin -- who I've been rather lukewarm towards -- made that fight as close as he did suggests to me he has a higher ceiling than Acosta and could quite possibly beat him in a head-to-head, too. Tybura is a very solid gatekeeper at HW and I have no idea why people continuously underrate him. He is good at his job.

Petersen lost to Mayes? What? Are we watching the same sport? He dominated him on the mat for 15 minutes and arguably earned multiple 10-8 rounds lmao. He also outhustled Usman before that whilst showing improvements in his striking in the process.

Rozenstruik is historically low output. Important qualifier. He changed his approach significantly in his last few fights and talked about the shifting focus in his camps. In the bouts against Tai Tuivasa and Gaziev, he stopped being the counter-striker/sniper who hung out on the back foot and waited for one perfect kill shot. Instead he made use of a very active jab and lots of kicks to put up high numbers. Shamil actually had success outwrestling him in Round 1, the issue is that his gas tank has never been built for a sustained high pace even since the regional scene. I think he should have committed more to using the TDs to set up a brawl rather than trying to purely wrestlefuck Rozen, but it is what it is. Again, I think Rozenstruik would have embarrassed Waldo just as badly and quite possibly KO'd him or just outhustled him on the scorecards.

I've got my eye on Teixeira, too. He sort of reeks of "athletic Brazilian can-crusher who feats on lower levels of competition with highlight reel finishes but will immediately get mopped the moment he takes a step up"... but the dude has impressive killer instinct and a good set of tools with which to find finishes. Nobody's done Tafa like that, to his credit.

I don't dislike Waldo, like I said. A big guy with an active jab like his and okayish footwork who can fight at a solid pace for 15 minutes is more than enough to make waves at Heavyweight these days. I'm sure he's making strides to improve, too. But I just don't think he's special and I see lots of worrying ways he's there to be potentially exploited by other dudes on the roster as he moves up the ranks.

 

[CatchtheseHands]

I think Tybura beats Waldo, too. The fact that Parkin -- who I've been rather lukewarm towards -- made that fight as close as he did suggests to me he has a higher ceiling than Acosta and could quite possibly beat him in a head-to-head, too. Tybura is a very solid gatekeeper at HW and I have no idea why people continuously underrate him. He is good at his job.

Tybura is definitely a solid gate keeper. What I said wasn't to insinuate that Tybura sucks. What I meant was that normally if you beat Tybura it means you could possibly be contender material and because Diniz and Parkin lost to them it isn't likely those two are (at least right now).

Petersen lost to Mayes? What? Are we watching the same sport? He dominated him on the mat for 15 minutes and arguably earned multiple 10-8 rounds lmao. He also outhustled Usman before that whilst showing improvements in his striking in the process.

I misread, you're right about that. My bad.

Rozenstruik is historically low output. Important qualifier. He changed his approach significantly in his last few fights and talked about the shifting focus in his camps. In the bouts against Tai Tuivasa and Gaziev, he stopped being the counter-striker/sniper who hung out on the back foot and waited for one perfect kill shot. Instead he made use of a very active jab and lots of kicks to put up high numbers. Shamil actually had success outwrestling him in Round 1, the issue is that his gas tank has never been built for a sustained high pace even since the regional scene. I think he should have committed more to using the TDs to set up a brawl rather than trying to purely wrestlefuck Rozen, but it is what it is. Again, I think Rozenstruik would have embarrassed Waldo just as badly and quite possibly KO'd him or just outhustled him on the scorecards.

I'm not doubting Rozen would very likely beat Waldo (if Waldo only chose to strike with him). Only 3 people have beat Rozen standing in the UFC (Gane, Volkov, Francis). My point was just that Shamil could have exploited Rozens weak TDD even further with better fight IQ and cardio but because he couldn't shows me that (at least for now) he would have trouble against the higher ranked guys who would out work him and out smart him. Not saying the same wouldn't or couldn't happen to Waldo but we've yet to see how he fairs against a higher ranked opponent, so we'll see come this Saturday.

I've got my eye on Teixeira, too. He sort of reeks of "athletic Brazilian can-crusher who feats on lower levels of competition with highlight reel finishes but will immediately get mopped the moment he takes a step up"... but the dude has impressive killer instinct and a good set of tools with which to find finishes. Nobody's done Tafa like that, to his credit.

I want to see more from Texeira. The UFC is giving him quite a big push by already giving him a big name like Lewis so I want to see how he does against him first before I make an opinion on him.

I don't dislike Waldo, like I said. A big guy with an active jab like his and okayish footwork who can fight at a solid pace for 15 minutes is more than enough to make waves at Heavyweight these days. I'm sure he's making strides to improve, too. But I just don't think he's special and I see lots of worrying ways he's there to be potentially exploited by other dudes on the roster as he moves up the ranks.

I never said you did lol. Any how we'll see if I'm onto something or not in a few days. Feel free to roast me if I'm wrong.

 

[Safton]

Tybura is definitely a solid gate keeper. What I said wasn't to insinuate that Tybura sucks. What I meant was that normally if you beat Tybura it means you could possibly be contender material and because Diniz and Parkin lost to them it isn't likely those two are (at least right now).

I don't think much of Dhiniz. Parkin like I said I'm still on the fence, but he's young and at a good camp and made that fight close. Spivac also lost in devastating fashion to Tybura, only to absolutely clown him in the rematch so make of it what you will.

I'm not doubting Rozen would very likely beat Waldo (if Waldo only chose to strike with him). Only 3 people have beat Rozen standing in the UFC (Gane, Volkov, Francis). My point was just that Shamil could have exploited Rozens weak TDD even further with better fight IQ and cardio but because he couldn't shows me that (at least for now) he would have trouble against the higher ranked guys who would out work him and out smart him. Not saying the same wouldn't or couldn't happen to Waldo but we've yet to see how he fairs against a higher ranked opponent, so we'll see come this Saturday.

Rozen's TDD isn't that bad. Even after Pavlovich outwrestled him in his final UFC bout, he left the promotion with a 72% TDD rating. That's above-average. He was one of the first dudes to outright stuff a takedown entry from Almeida. Jailton was of course able to reshoot and get him down on a subsequent attempt, but it's worth noting since up to that point Almeida had been just using his speed and explosiveness to easily ragdoll everyone.

Shamil's ceiling isn't elite, but I think that he could potentially be a Top 10 brawler who gets into fun scraps and scores a few upset KOs so long as he remembers what he's good at. Sort of like Tuivasa.

I want to see more from Texeira. The UFC is giving him quite a big push by already giving him a big name like Lewis so I want to see how he does against him first before I make an opinion on him.

Ditto.

I never said you did lol. Any how we'll see if I'm onto something or not in a few days. Feel free to roast me if I'm wrong.

I wasn't saying you did lmao. I was just clarifying my position because my initial posts and subsequent ones probably make me sound like a diehard Waldo hater when in fact I don't really mind the dude. It's just I don't see him as having an elite ceiling is all, even in a division that currently has a shallow talent pool.

I have no intention of holding you over the fire even if Spivak does theoretically go out and choke him in Rd 1 or whatever. Just not something I'm interested in doing. It's not so unlikely that Acosta chins him at some point, so we'll see.

 

[Mmmmmmma1234]

Only way Waldo gets into the top five is if the UFC keeps cutting guys ranked higher than him ... Kind of like how he got up to #11 ... By De Lima, by rozy, by Romanov... Blaydes probably gets cut if he loses to this ruskie too.

 

[Prazeres]

Dude is better than people think and can definitely crack top five if he gets the right match ups. Spivac is definitely beatable for him if he can stuff the TD's and Pav would most definitely be a hard but winnable fight for him as well. All aboard the Waldo train.

Well there is nothing interesting about him or his fights and thus far he has only fought very, very bad fighters. That's why nobody cares about him.

Also, there is a massive gulf between the top of heavyweight (Tom, Gane, Jailton, Volkov, Pavlovitch and Blaydes) and the rest of the division. Simply put I don't think he has the athletic gift to ever contend with them. So his ceiling is right outside of that elite echelon and honestly who cares what fat dudes are ranked 6 to 15 after them.

 

[IneedSometop]

He's good enough as far as heavyweights go he's just so fucking boring

 

[The_Renaissance]

Probably because Spivac is a very decent HW and better than Waldo. Spivac taps him.

 

[Ares Black]

That's why