Waldo Cortes-Acosta is kicking off his 2026 campaign with a top-10 matchup against Derrick Lewis at UFC 324.
After a hyper-active 2025, Cortes-Acosta (16-2 MMA, 9-2 UFC) rapidly shot up the UFC’s heavyweight rankings, landing at No. 5. His first assignment of the new year will be against Lewis (29-12 MMA, 20-10 UFC), who currently holds the No. 8 spot. UFC 324 takes place at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas on Jan. 24 – the first numbered event of the Paramount era.
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Cortes-Acosta was rumored to squeeze in a sixth fight this year, but that wasn’t in the cards. His year began with a second-round stoppage of Ryan Spann in March, followed by a decision nod over Serghei Spivac and a decision loss to Sergei Pavlovich. “Salsa Boy” rebounded with a first-round finish of Ante Delija after an awkward sequence of events, and then made a three-week turnaround to fight Shamil Gaziev on three days’ notice in Qatar – a fight he finished by knockout in 82 seconds.
While Cortes-Acosta was a busybody in 2025, Lewis made only one appearance. “The Black Beast” met Tallison Teixeira in a July headliner that only lasted 35 seconds. The knockout victory for Lewis made it back-to-back wins, following a third-round stoppage of Rodrigo Nascimento in May 2024.
The current UFC 324 lineup includes:
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Justin Gaethje vs. Paddy Pimblett – for interim lightweight title
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Kayla Harrison vs. Amanda Nunes – for women’s bantamweight title
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Waldo Cortes-Acosta vs. Derrick Lewis
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Arnold Allen vs. Jean Silva
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Modestas Bukauskas vs. Nikita Krylov
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Alexa Grasso vs. Rose Namajunas
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Ateba Gautier vs. Andrey Pulayev
This article originally appeared on MMA Junkie: UFC 324: Waldo Cortes-Acosta gets Derrick Lewis on 1st Paramount card
