Sergey Spivak Now Fighting Waldo Cortes-Acosta At UFC 316

Sergey Spivak has a new opponent in Waldo Cortes-Acosta for UFC 316 in Newark, New Jersey on June 7th after Shamiel Gaziev withdrew for unknown reasons.

The 30-year-old Spivak last fought back at UFC 311 in January, where he suffered a 1st round TKO loss to Jailton Almeida.

That was Spivak’s second TKO defeat in his last three fights as he was also stopped via punches by Ciryl Gane in 2023, but he did pick up a 1st round submission finish over Marcin Tybura last year, and is still ranked No.7 in the heavyweight division heading into this newly arrange clash.

Spivak will now be facing the 33-year-old Cortes-Acosta, who has compiled a four-fight winning streak over the past couple of years, beating the likes of Andrei Arlovski and Robelis Despaigne along the way before his latest KO victory over Ryan Spann last month.

That’s taken Cortes-Acosta to No.11 in the heavyweight rankings, which is actually one spot above the fighter he’s replacing, Gaziev.

Spivak vs. Cortes-Acosta joins a UFC 316 event that will be headlined by a bantamweight title rematch between Merab Dvalishvili and Sean O’Malley, while a women’s bantamweight showdown between Julianna Pena and Kayla Harrison serves as the co-main event.