Javier Torres Declares “Fighting Pirates” Era as Waldo Cortes Acosta’s Team Sets Sail: Walk The Plank Mentality
It’s official: the next wave of heavyweight coaching quips might arrive wearing an eye patch. Javier Torres, the man shaping heavyweight Waldo Cortes Acosta, has put the MMA world on notice with his new “fighting pirates” team, complete with a walk-the-plank mentality and, apparently, zero tolerance for handshake drama.
Fighting Pirates
Torres dropped anchor with his plan in a recent interview, sharing the backstory on what exactly makes his crew “pirates” and why recent events inside and outside the cage strengthened that brand. “Walk the plank,” Torres declared, with a grin in his voice. His point? In this gym, you pick a side. “Either you come with us or you sink in the water,” Torres said. “Walk the plank.”
Getting to that attitude took a twist of events during fight week with Andrei Arlovski. According to Torres, the usually respectful Cortes Acosta wanted to shake hands twice, on Tuesday and Wednesday, only to be met with cold shoulders and icy returns from the Belarusian legend. “The guy goes like this, like, ‘F you.’ He didn’t shake his hand on Tuesday,” Torres recounted. “I said, ‘You know what, f this guy.’ Waldo stays and went on Wednesday to shake his hand and the guy turned and did the same thing. In that moment I told Waldo, ‘You lose respect for the legend. You f him up when you’re out there. You don’t play with this.’”
Forget playing it safe. That snub, Torres says, was a turning point. Instead of keeping the “old school” respect for the legend, he told Cortes Acosta to fight with a new edge. “After that, my man’s mouthpiece fell off in the cage and the ref tried to kick it out of the mat. People don’t know all the things behind that,” Torres said. “He was being respectful and [Arlovski] didn’t want to shake hands, telling him basically, ‘F you, I don’t want to shake your hand.’ That’s why now, whatever, the point of the story is that we’re here and we’re the pirates, taking over MMA.”
“I love my white boys”
For Torres, it’s more than a catchy name. “We’re trying to get all these guys, all the Hispanics, Latinos, get out there. Anybody – they don’t have to be Latino, but my market is Latinos. I don’t know why they love me, you know?” Still, the gym’s camaraderie doesn’t stop at language or background. “Don’t get me wrong, I love my white boys, I love my white people, I love my guys, everybody. I got guys coming from Germany, Canada, different guys. I don’t care, I train everybody, I got love for everybody. And we’re going to make the next big stars.”
Branding? Torres says his crew now has it. “Now we’re called the fighting pirates, bro. That’s what we were missing – a little bit of branding and an eye patch. Now we got it. Now we are the fighting pirates. You sail with us or you sink. That’s what it is.”
Waldo Cortes Acosta
Waldo Cortes Acosta’s most recent outing saw him back in the Octagon mixing business with pirate bravado. Waldo Cortes Acosta’s most recent fight took place at UFC Qatar on November 22, 2025, where he delivered a statement-making first-round knockout over Shamil Gaziev, despite accepting the bout on just three days’ notice after Serghei Spivac withdrew.
The Dominican heavyweight ‘Salsa Boy’ went from vacation mode to fight-ready in a flash, flying across time zones and landing in Doha just before weigh-ins. Inside the Octagon, both fighters started sharply, but Waldo found a home for a rapid right hand that dropped Gaziev, then sealed the finish with another accurate right just 82 seconds into the opening round. Nabbing his fifth win of the year and a $50,000 Performance of the Night bonus, Cortes Acosta immediately called out Tom Aspinall for a possible sixth fight in December, keeping alive his “fighting pirates” schedule and heavy-handed momentum in the division.
With a fresh look and an even fresher chip on their shoulder, the “fighting pirates” of Torres’ gym have staked their flag in the ground.
