Waldo
Cortes-Acosta no longer considers Tom
Aspinall the champion of the
Ultimate Fighting Championship heavyweight division.
Aspinall’s first heavyweight title defense against Ciryl Gane
ended in an anticlimactic no-contest in October 2025. The
Englishman was unable to continue after Gane simultaneously poked
him in both eyes in the first round. Aspinall has since been
inactive, recovering from multiple eye procedures, but
Cortes-Acosta claims he’s avoiding a rematch with Gane.
Advertisement
Cortes-Acosta accuses UFC heavyweight champion Tom Aspinall of
avoiding Ciryl Gane
Gane won the interim heavyweight title with a second-round knockout
of Alex
Pereira at
UFC Freedom 250, paving the way for a rematch with Aspinall.
Cortes-Acosta believes Aspinall has had sufficient time to recover
from his injury and claims the Brit is inactive because he doesn’t
want to fight Gane again.
“It’s frustrating to see the champion be like this,” Cortes-Acosta
said at
Noche UFC 4 media day. “He knows that he needs to come back and
fight with Ciryl Gane. I think, sorry for the language, but he is a
p*ssy. I think he had a long time to heal and come back and fight
for the title. For me, this is not a champion. A champion needs to
be a warrior in the ring and not a p*ssy. We don’t know where he’s
at. He is hiding because he doesn’t want to fight Ciryl Gane.”
UFC CEO Dana
White and Aspinall’s advisor, Eddie Hearn, have both indicated
that the champion’s recovery is still ongoing, pushing his Octagon
return further back. Meanwhile, Cortes-Acosta (17-3) is scheduled
to fight Curtis
Blaydes (19-6) in a pivotal heavyweight matchup at Desert
Diamond Arena in Glendale, Arizona.