It was not pretty, and nobody in the building would call it a classic. But Curtis Blaydes got the job done at Noche UFC — and quietly wrote his name into the heavyweight record book.
“"Back in the win column ✅ @RazorBlaydes265 gets the UD win to become tied for 4th for most heavyweight wins in UFC history!"”
"Razor" outpointed Waldo Cortes-Acosta 29-28 on all three cards Saturday night at Desert Diamond Arena in Glendale, Arizona, in a 15-minute affair where neither man even threw 100 strikes. Blaydes landed 24 of his 74 strike attempts; Cortes-Acosta landed 28 of 95.
Ugly or not, the numbers are elite. Blaydes (20-6 MMA, 15-6 UFC) now has 15 victories in UFC heavyweight competition — tied with Junior Dos Santos for fourth-most in divisional history, behind only Andrei Arlovski (23), Derrick Lewis (20) and Frank Mir (16). His 70 takedowns landed are the most in heavyweight history, full stop.
A PATIENT GAME PLAN
This was a different Curtis Blaydes than the one fans saw in April. In his last outing — a Fight of the Year candidate against Josh Hokit at UFC 327 that set the all-time record for significant strikes in a heavyweight fight (354 combined) — Blaydes had emptied the tank in a wild scrap and come up short. Against Cortes-Acosta, he went the other way entirely.
Round one was slow and steady. Blaydes shot first, Cortes-Acosta defended against the fence — until a late takedown put Blaydes into head-and-arm control before the horn.
Round two followed the script. Blaydes grounded him again and again; "Salsa Boy" kept getting up and kept failing to build anything. Both men were gassed by the horn.
In the third, just as Cortes-Acosta started to get aggressive, Blaydes dragged him back to the mat once more. Cortes-Acosta got up, but stayed on the back foot for the rest of the round, wary of being taken down again — and wary is a word that loses rounds.
One recap put it plainly: the fight wasn't the knock-down, drag-out crowd pleaser of the Hokit war, but Blaydes mixed his martial arts well, used perfect feints to keep the takedown threat alive, and earned a deserved, if less spectacular, victory.
THE RECORD BOOK
The context around the win is what makes it matter. Blaydes bounced back from the Hokit loss to move to 2-1 in his last three, and he did it by tying one of the most respected names in heavyweight history. Fifteen UFC heavyweight wins — the same number as a former champion. Seventy takedowns landed — a divisional record that keeps growing.
For a fighter who has spent his career one win away from the title conversation, the resume is quietly becoming undeniable.
For Cortes-Acosta (17-4 MMA, 10-4 UFC), the night was a different kind of milestone: consecutive losses for the first time in his career, after an 8-1 stretch. All four of his career defeats have now come by decision.
WHAT COMES NEXT
So does Blaydes deserve another crack at the top five, or is he the forever gatekeeper? The honest answer is both. In a heavyweight division where finishes create contenders, a decision win over a fellow contender keeps him in the picture without vaulting him to the front of the line.
But consider the math: 15 wins, 70 takedowns, and a spot next to Junior Dos Santos in the history books. That is not the resume of a gatekeeper. That is the resume of a man one big performance away from forcing the conversation all over again.
