
Might 11, 2024; St. Louis, Missouri, USA; Waldo Cortes Acosta (crimson gloves) fights Robelis Despaigne (blue gloves) throughout UFC Battle Evening at Enterprise Middle. Necessary Credit score: Jeff Le-USA TODAY Sports activities
Robelis Despaigne instructed MMA Junkie previous to entering into the octagon with Waldo Cortes-Acosta that he was going to be preventing for the UFC heavyweight championship by 2025. These ambitions took an enormous blow together with his first profession loss.
Coming in, Despaigne (5-1 MMA, 1-1 UFC) appeared like he was able to wreaking havoc over the division. He blew threw his first 5 profession opponents within the first spherical, with 4 of these wins coming in lower than 20 seconds. That sort of fighter is frightening, but in addition a goal for a lot of questions.
Despaigne gave us solutions to quite a lot of unknowns, however not in a great way. His takedown protection and conditioning have been lower than par for somebody trying to put their title in title competition, nor was his resistance to adversity.
All due respect to Cortes-Acosta, who rightfully did what he wanted to do to get this win, however a superior fighter to him would’ve had the referee pulling them off Despaigne on this evening.
UFC CEO Dana White seemingly felt the identical. He fully crapped on Cortes-Acosta’s win on the post-fight information convention, claiming it will’ve gotten a bonus for “sh*ttiest battle of the evening” if he was in a position to give one.
White was right in his description that Cortes-Acosta vs. Despaigne was the worst battle on the cardboard. He went down this highway at first to indicate that the remainder of the motion on the evening was entertaining, but it surely’s additionally exhausting to know what extra Cortes-Acosta might’ve executed. Standing with Despaigne for any size of time would’ve been silly, and the takedowns got here straightforward.
The criticism ought to in the end fall larger on Despaigne, as he had no protection for Cortes-Acosta’s primary recreation plan. It’s a tricky lesson for Despaigne, however one which’s finest to be taught now if he’s going to realize any of the potential that’s clearly there with him.