Hopeless situation: Volkov risks everything in a duel with Acosta

On the morning of May 10, the UFC 328 tournament will take place in Newark, in the main event of which Khamzat Chimaev, now representing the UAE, will defend the middleweight belt against Sean Strickland. Also, another fighter from Russia, Alexander Volkov, will perform in the main card, who will have a duel against Waldo Cortez-Acosta. Alexander's prospects and the importance of this fight are described in the Izvestia article.

The thorny path

For Drago, as Alexander is called, this fight will be the 51st in his professional career and the 19th in the UFC. Volkov made his debut in the promotion in November 2016, and since then he has been very close to a title fight several times, but he still hasn't fought for the belt. After winning four big wins at the start, he stumbled over Derrick Lewis. The American lost all the rounds, but at the very end he caught and knocked out Alexander.

Having won three more matches in four matches, Volkov again approached the title chance, but for this it was necessary to defeat Cyril Gan. The Frenchman outshot Drago and took the victory, again postponing the Russian's claim to the belt. Alexander did not give up and won five more times in six fights. In December 2024, he had a rematch with Gan, which ended with Volkov's defeat by a split decision. Many called the result unfair, but Gan got the title chance again, not Volkov.

Volkov was rehabilitated by his victory over Hamilton Almeida, which could have made him the next contender. However, on the same evening, Gan hit Tom Aspinall with a finger in the eye, and the fight was declared invalid. The Englishman was not ready for an immediate rematch, and the UFC scheduled a fight at the White House for the interim title between Gan and Alex Pereira. Volkov was ignored again, and instead they offered him a fight with Waldo Cortez-Acosta, who scored a very good move on a parallel course.

The Dominican joined the UFC in 2022, and at first they didn't see any potential in him. He won with boring decisions, "pushing" his opponents in the rack. In the first nine fights, he won seven times, all on points. Acosta's real rebirth happened after his defeat by Sergei Pavlovich. Waldo lost to the Russian without a chance and changed something in his style, which allowed him to move from the middle to the top.

First, Acosta knocked out Ante Delia, the British sparring partner, a week after the Ghana-Aspinall fight. The irony was that Waldo scored a knockout after his opponent hit him in the eye. By showing that even after such an incident, you can continue the fight and win. So Acosta discredited Aspinall even more in front of the fans.

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Excellence in all components

Three weeks later, Waldo was back in the cage against Shamil Gaziev. Acosta replaced the injured Sergey Spivak on short notice and unexpectedly knocked out Gaziev in the first round. Feeling the courage, Acosta expressed his willingness to speak again before the end of the year, but he was offered to meet with Derrick Lewis in January 2026.

Naturally, Acosta scored a knockout again and declared himself a new full-fledged contender. If Volkov did not accept the fights in the hope of justice for the UFC leadership, then Acosta simply stamped out the victories and did not plan to stop. Volkov was told that if Waldo won again, he would overtake him in the queue — then Alexander had to agree to a duel with Acosta.

However, time has shown that the battle of the seemingly two main contenders will not affect anything. The winner of this showdown will definitely not be the next one to fight for the belt. After the match between Gan and Pereira, the best of the pair will face undisputed champion Tom Aspinall. Moreover, there will also be a fight between Josh Hokit and Derrick Lewis at the White House. If Hokit wins, the UFC will also want to see him against the champion.

At the same time, there is no doubt about Volkov's victory over Acosta. Alexander surpasses his opponent in all components. He is a more versatile striker, able to keep any opponent at bay, and unlike Waldo, the Russian is good not only at boxing, but also at footwork. Acosta is unlikely to succeed in taking Volkov away. The Dominican showed the stalls in the UFC, but the only successful case was against taekwondo fighter Robelis Despain, who knows absolutely nothing about canvas.

"To be honest, I don't understand the UFC's policy towards me at all, because sometimes I hear different things about the future in the UFC,— Alexander Volkov told reporters. — The situation is that they give me rivals to check if they are ready for the UFC title or not. So it was with Almeida. He had a good winning streak, they put him on a fight with me, and after the next fight they fired him.

Russia is always waiting for Volkov's fights, and many people will watch the fight at UFC 328. However, this fight has practically no tournament prospects. If you win, you will wait for an indefinite number of months, if you lose, you will definitely be eliminated from the title race.