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A significant heavyweight matchup is heading for UFC 328 between Waldo Cortes-Acosta and Alexander Volkov.
A top 5 matchup will go down May 9 at Prudential Center in Newark, N.J. In the latest USA TODAY Sports/MMA Junkie heavyweight rankings, Volkov (29-11 MMA, 13-5 UFC) holds the No. 3 spot, and Cortes-Acosta (17-2 MMA, 10-2 UFC) sits at No. 5. The promotion officially announced the matchup Thursday.
Cortes-Acosta has made a rapid ascent to the top of the division thanks to a hyperactive 2025 campaign in which he fought a total of six times, winning five. His year began with a stoppage of Ryan Spann, followed by a decision over Serghei Spivac. A loss to Sergei Pavlovich followed, but then Cortes-Acosta won three straight, stopping Ante Delija, Shamil Gaziev and Derrick Lewis. Now, he lands a top-five opponent.
Volkov enters his first fight of the year following controversial results in his last two outings. A split decision loss against Ciryl Gane at UFC 310 was a wildly unpopular result. In October at UFC 321, Volkov fought to another split result, this time ending up on the winning side over Jailton Almeida.
This article originally appeared on MMA Junkie: UFC 328 gets top 5 heavyweight fight in Newark
Continue reading...
A top 5 matchup will go down May 9 at Prudential Center in Newark, N.J. In the latest USA TODAY Sports/MMA Junkie heavyweight rankings, Volkov (29-11 MMA, 13-5 UFC) holds the No. 3 spot, and Cortes-Acosta (17-2 MMA, 10-2 UFC) sits at No. 5. The promotion officially announced the matchup Thursday.
Cortes-Acosta has made a rapid ascent to the top of the division thanks to a hyperactive 2025 campaign in which he fought a total of six times, winning five. His year began with a stoppage of Ryan Spann, followed by a decision over Serghei Spivac. A loss to Sergei Pavlovich followed, but then Cortes-Acosta won three straight, stopping Ante Delija, Shamil Gaziev and Derrick Lewis. Now, he lands a top-five opponent.
Volkov enters his first fight of the year following controversial results in his last two outings. A split decision loss against Ciryl Gane at UFC 310 was a wildly unpopular result. In October at UFC 321, Volkov fought to another split result, this time ending up on the winning side over Jailton Almeida.
Current UFC 328 lineup
- Khamzat Chimaev vs. Sean Strickland – for middleweight title
- Alexander Volkov vs. Waldo Cortes Acosta
- Sean Brady vs. Joaquin Buckley
- Jan Blachowicz vs. Bogdan Guskov
- King Green vs. Jeremy Stephens
- Ateba Gautier vs. Ozzy Diaz
- Roman Kopylov vs. Marco Tulio
- Clayton Carpenter vs. Jose Ochoa
This article originally appeared on MMA Junkie: UFC 328 gets top 5 heavyweight fight in Newark
Continue reading...
