No market line was supplied for this bout, so this is a UFC Stats and Elo read only. Elo favors Blaydes 60/40, but Cortes Acosta's rating is flagged provisional on a small in-system sample and his +42 trend is the sharpest on this card, while Blaydes' number is a career average that is increasingly out of step with what he is showing at 35. The style clash rating here (2.94) is the highest of the event: Blaydes' entire game is wrestling (5.12 TD/15, 47% accuracy) and Cortes Acosta is a stationary, high-accuracy puncher (5.34 SLpM at 48%) with 73% takedown defense who has never been finished. The critical evidence is Blaydes' most recent outing, losing a decision to Josh Hokit, an inexperienced wrestler, suggests the takedown-and-control engine that carried him for a decade is no longer reliable against opponents who can stuff the first attempt. When Blaydes can't get the fight down, he has been knocked out (Pavlovich, Aspinall, Lewis, Ngannou), and he still absorbs strikes at 53% defense. Cortes Acosta just KO'd Lewis, who KO'd Blaydes, and stopped Gaziev and Delija; his losses were competitive decisions to Pavlovich and Volkov, the latter also beat by Blaydes, so the common-opponent ledger is split. Blaydes' path is a first-round takedown on a fresh, plodding Waldo and grinding with 80-inch reach clinch entries; if he gets it early he can steal rounds. I lean Cortes Acosta because Blaydes' takedowns are declining, Waldo's defense is above average for the division, and the counter-hook is the single most dangerous moment in this fight. Low confidence, heavyweight variance and the possibility of Blaydes controlling from top position are both very live.