A pair of UFC big “Boys” will throw down this fall when Chris Barnett and Waldo Cortes-Acosta meet in a heavyweight fight Oct. 12.
Two people with knowledge of the situation confirmed the matchup between “Beastboy” and “Salsa Boy” to MMA Junkie on Monday. They requested anonymity since the UFC has yet to make an announcement. Instagram account NTRD_MMA was first to report the booking.
A location and venue have not been determined for the UFC Fight Night event.
It will have been more than two years since Barnett (23-8 MMA, 2-2 UFC) last stepped foot in the octagon. He last competed in September 2022 when he rallied to defeat Jake Collier by second-round TKO. Barnett was slated to compete in April 2023 against Chase Sherman and this past March against Mohammed Usman, but both fights fell through.
Cortes-Acosta (12-1 MMA, 5-1 UFC) will look to keep rolling as he enters on a three-fight winning streak. A Dana White Contender Series alum, Cortes-Acosta is coming off wins over Łukasz Brzeski, Andrei Arlovski and most recently Robelis Despaigne in May.
Below is the updated UFC Fight Night card on Oct. 12:
- Brandon Royval vs. Tatsuro Taira
- Abdul Razak Alhassan vs. Josh Fremd
- Grant Dawson vs. Rafa Garcia
- Themba Gorimbo vs. Niko Price
- Jared Gooden vs. Chidi Njokuani
- Clayton Carpenter vs. Lucas Rocha
- Cory McKenna vs. Polyana Viana
- JunYong Park vs. Brad Tavares
- Ramazonbek Temirov vs. CJ Vergara
- Chris Barnett vs. Waldo Cortes-Acosta
