00:00and we have a monster monster sports week ahead ladies and gentlemen on thursday we have the home
00:05opener for your miami hurricanes they are taking on fam you you of course can hear that right here
00:10on wqam we have the dolphins starting their season on sunday game day uncensored will come your way
00:15at noon myself and alejandro solano will get you going with all the action
00:19the heat they'll be here before you know it the panthers got media day next week and training camp
00:25starting up next week as they will try and get themselves back in cup contention uh but you
00:30know we always like the fight game here all right and i've always wanted to talk to this guy waldo
00:35cortez acosta is going to be fighting on noche ufc coming up on saturday on paramount plus from
00:41arizona and he trains out in arizona uh one of the baddest heavyweight on the planet actually was a
00:47baseball player um but has found his way into the top 10 of the ufc heavyweight rankings which is kind
00:52of having like up top they got to figure things out but they actually kind of sneakily have like
00:57a a good wave of some interesting guys and he's amongst them like he hits like a mac truck he's
01:03fighting curtis blades this weekend and uh he gave us some time right after training this week here is
01:09my conversation with waldo cortez acosta all right very excited to talk to our next guest miami you're
01:15going to want to check out this guy noche ufc is coming up this saturday and this is one of
01:19the
01:19baddest heavyweights on the planet waldo cortez acosta joining us here well thanks for time man
01:23really appreciate you buddy uh thank you thank you for being here it's it's great to have you uh how
01:28has training been going for this one what's uh what's been the uh the the lock-in on camp for
01:32this
01:32one guys uh the camp is intense in every the beginning the beginning i started training three
01:38times a day um this is the last week the last week before last week i changed a little bit
01:4532 time today and this week is changing a little more there's one time today like a get it like
01:52a
01:53less less training and for the body recover more faster so how did you take the last fight i mean
01:59obviously volkow has been doing it forever he's a tough tough nut to crack because he's so damn big
02:03what did you take from that like lesson wise and and and and into this journey for this fight
02:08yeah i i learned it was not leave it there not leave um the the fight to the judges you
02:15know and
02:15the um they see that i can do it more in the show more to in the ring in the
02:24make every fight more
02:27better yeah this is my my my thing you know you don't you know you never want to leave it
02:32in the
02:32hands of uh of them you want to do what you can control yeah so for this fight with curtis
02:38blades
02:39like it's a different type of challenge because he brings that wrestling element to it you're such a
02:43dynamic knockout artist we love seeing what you can do curtis has shown that ability but we always
02:48know that he's got that that wrestling as well so like what do you focus on to this do you
02:52want to
02:52just be the best version of you do you focus on yourself or do you got to be aware of
02:56what curtis can
02:56bring to the uh the table for this fight no i bring it for i i need to take care
03:00of myself you know
03:01like um doing my thing i training hard for that for the fight i training with the national champion
03:07the wrestling uh in jiu-jitsu i have the college guy too here i have the best called the botting
03:14and united states with the olympic olympic people olympic guys um joe is the name i have your
03:22story however like a one good group for the my 20 count and the i i think is a one
03:29of those the
03:29best time the big best radiant and and and that's for us as for that fight i'd love to get
03:36into your
03:36background a little bit because we've heard of a professional football players getting into it
03:41you came from baseball how what what led you to fighting from baseball obviously you know once that
03:47once that journey ended like but we don't normally hear guys coming from that sport getting into
03:51fighting so how did you what what what what led you to it and what uh when did you fall
03:56in love with
03:56it uh i fell in love in 2014 15 while me coming here to united states um i see it
04:04while me coming here
04:05having like a 19 20 20 20 years old i see a lot of competition in baseball i know continue
04:11to do it
04:12but i younger i say i want to i want to continue with sport you know because i young i
04:17faster i can do
04:18with something something else i try to play football well the football now made me like i know be
04:23coordinated too much because i don't know english too much in that time um i go to the training uh
04:29boxing you know and that you get to something like that the guy see me a lot of potential he
04:35see me there
04:35i i open it for everything um after the guy see me the metro punching because i fight it all
04:41my life
04:42like a street fight in dominica republic and every day never scared anybody nothing at all uh when
04:49the guy see me have a heart and have like a speedy to the they continue in the fight and
04:55told me i
04:56want to put you ready and maybe in three months or four months i want to give it to you
05:00one fighting
05:00amateur because i see a lot of potential in you and i want to you do it that sport and
05:08did you fall in
05:09love with it like right away because you said you were looking for like another sport was it like
05:13immediate that you you you were kind of hooked on it did it take you a little bit was it
05:17super hard
05:17the first time around no it's not hard for me because i'm being athletic whole time my life
05:22you know and then only i coordinated my punches my breeding and that's it but the first time i mean
05:28knock him out my first guy in the amateur i get it i get excited i get it i love
05:35it the people the
05:36cloud was it excited we'll see people like it knock them out yeah like a bunch of people in the
05:41face
05:41you know yeah well i gotta imagine because you like you had that i mean that the the pitching
05:46background right coming up so like does that translate at all like just that athleticism that
05:50you had in baseball just to that monster right hand that we see all the time yeah that transition that
05:56you do like the people do like a pitching everything it's like a decision where you throw one right
06:02cross it's the same the same only on bots you need like to coordinate them or your steps where
06:09you throw one two you know in the later so what do you think of the heavyweight landscape right now
06:15it
06:15feels like there's a lot of opportunity for you guys on the rise like it feels uh open you know
06:20we're
06:20waiting for aspinall to come back sorel gone just had the win over beheda but what do you you make
06:25of i
06:25guess the landscape it feels like one big performance you could be right in there for the title how do
06:29how do you see it right now yeah yeah i i see it the heavyweight heavyweight having new blood you
06:35know and then the heavyweight division i get it get excited again get it like a new guy like a
06:41push
06:41push your entry everything and then um i see a lot of performances denying and a lot of fight denying
06:50heavyweight now okay you know see this one like a two three years ago like a four five six years
06:55behind
06:57and then right now you can see it the heavyweight can push it through and get wanting to like make
07:03that division right right together yeah i mean like you think about all the athletic backgrounds i saw
07:08the the kid uh went who played for the jets hokuts got the football background you got the baseball
07:13background so it feels i mean surreal gone's obviously a great athlete too it does feel like a lot of
07:17that
07:17athleticism is getting into the division yeah yeah yeah it's not like you have it like it before like
07:23the three or four fighter good before right now you have it like it all inside a tall fight and
07:29almost
07:30almost touching almost good fighter and then you can make a good show yeah how about a new guys coming
07:36in the new contenders and everything every good show too what did you make of uh pejeda coming out
07:42this week asking for a rematch with gone um yeah but like i i think for him i leave it
07:51a chance to the
07:53be more incorporated to the weight to the heavyweight because the heavyweight is not like a too easy be
07:57comfortable in that way it's too much weight fighting in the ring like that like a 50 60 pound more
08:05over
08:05and fighting a ring with the other guy like a natural heavyweight i think um it's more better to hang
08:11out
08:11like a um hockey like a just hockey fight like a fighting with him got it more comfortable in the
08:18heavyweight and fight with it with the um for the title of the game does it feel like i mean
08:24i i'm sure
08:25it's got to be something but let me let me tell you something yeah right here too because try got
08:29it out
08:30that fight with a just hockey and big just hockey beat him up yeah for top it's more better beat
08:37him up with
08:37the same guy and for the title the beat him up with one guy is barely ascended to the to
08:45the title you
08:45know yeah absolutely like it's it's one of those things where like if you lose again for the title
08:50you might not have another journey there but if you you know kind of work your way back up to
08:54it it
08:54feels like okay there could be another journey uh but if you lose to the champ or the interim champ
08:59again then it's kind of like well where do you go from there it's tough yeah from your uh from
09:04your
09:04perspective uh this fight's got to be cool because it's pretty close to where you trained are you
09:08expecting like a a lot of your your friends family like what kind of reception are you expecting on
09:13on saturday night oh uh it's a lot of pressure i might tell you the real thing there's a lot
09:19of
09:19pressure bro and me i know i changed that pressure and and emotions and you know and uh
09:26uh and i'm glad there's a here too because my family friend uh uh everybody they know me is here
09:37in the
09:37town you know yeah it decided for me because i remember my background with me fighting in the in the
09:46arizona i knock them out with everybody and and here in my town and this one will be a session
09:53i
09:53go for the knockout for this fight does it mean something to you to be like one of the faces
09:58of
09:58your country doing this on such a big stage like i know baseball is like religion were in the dr
10:03but
10:03like the idea that you're you're kind of blazing a new trail for for people from your country does that
10:09mean anything to you do you feel that reception at home at all or do people not still see like
10:13uh mixed
10:14martial arts as something in the dominican republic as that is maybe as popular i don't know i don't
10:19know if anything will ever replace baseball but do they see it as like oh i could i could do
10:22that i
10:23would i would like to get into mixed martial arts yeah yeah yeah a lot of people reach out me
10:27in the
10:28eastern round uh reach out me in my in my town too uh what it can do for the hand
10:34be in the usc one day
10:35the guys in the capital too uh i see a lot of prospects in there it's like uh you know
10:41i everybody
10:43everybody everybody see me room for here i have a lot of prospects in there you guys have a chance
10:47to the making the that guy coming coming over to make a show and everything give me the opportunity
10:54because the guy is hungry for that and i want to be one fighter in the usc one day they
11:01said let me
11:01see it every time i see a lot of progress for dominican people it's more progressive and uh and the
11:07public and the population they they try like a um give me more support because you know it's a new
11:15sport to the dominican republic after the baseball they like a people still like a see it more right
11:22now well we can't wait to watch your fight man on saturday thank you for giving us time after you
11:26train man uh it's always entertaining watching you fight and it's uh it's it's a pleasure getting some
11:31time with you thank you so much yeah thank you
