When middleweight contender Anthony “Fluffy” Hernandez attempts to compare the version of himself who lost via stoppage in two of his first three UFC bouts beginning in 2019 to his current standing as the author of an eight-fight win streak, he says the difference is quite simple.
“Sometimes I believe in myself too f—ing much and that’s the issue,” Hernandez told CBS Sports on Tuesday. “No excuses at all. The guys who beat me [Markus Perez and Kevin Holland] were better on those nights. What it came down to is I just took a long look in the mirror and realized that I can’t just fight for money. I have to go out there [only] when I’m healthy. Everyone in this f—ing UFC is really f—ing good. This is the cream of the crop.”
Hernandez (15-2, 1 NC) believes that once he made the adjustment of not “playing with my money,” he began to show a true championship form. The momentum has taken him into Saturday’s UFC Fight Night main event in Houston where the No. 4-ranked Hernandez will face former champion Sean Strickland (29-7) in a five-round fight that could determine the next title challenger at 185 pounds.
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So, how did the 32-year-old native of Dunnigan, California, secure a fight as important as this? By practicing what he preaches.
Last October, Hernandez made the difficult decision to withdraw from a crucial headlining bout in Vancouver against an Reinier de Ridder when he suffered an undisclosed injury. De Ridder went on to lose against replacement Brendan Allen to halt his momentum, lifting a now healthy Hernandez into an even bigger fight inside the Toyota Center against Strickland, whom “Fluffy” has called the perfect style matchup for him.
“You have seen how [Strickland] goes against wrestlers, it doesn’t usually end well,” Hernandez mentioned. “That doesn’t mean that I necessarily want to wrestle but I feel like this fight is perfect for me. I think if you beat a former champ, that really makes a statement because everybody is really good here. Someone who has already done that shit, you go out there and take him out? You are sitting in a really good place.”
Strickland, a native of Anaheim, California, who now fights out of Las Vegas, took umbrage with Hernandez’s comments when speaking to CBS Sports on Tuesday and believes the gap in elite experience between the two will prove to be Hernandez’s undoing. That doesn’t mean that Strickland doesn’t have a lot to prove, however.
The former champion enters Saturday on a one-year layoff and has lost two of his last three fights, although both defeats came in title bouts against former champion Dricus du Plessis. But even though Strickland’s 2024 loss to DDP was via split decision in a highly disputed result, their rematch last February saw Strickland struggle to make adjustments or fight with passion as critics called him boring.
“[Hernandez] has never fought a grappler like me or even a striker. He has been steamrolling guys that I could f—ing write a clinic on,” Strickland mentioned. “So, no, he’s not [on my level]. You have never fought a grappler like me. I have trained with the guys you trained with and trained with the guys that you beat. No, I’ll write a book on it, you’ll see. After we get done, they are going to start calling me a grappler.”
Even though Strickland is known for his formidable takedown defense, offensive wrestling isn’t a consistently strong aspect of his game, which makes his grappling comments somewhat amusing (and is likely Strickland just trolling). The reality is that Strickland enters as the betting underdog not just because of Hernandez’s momentum but due to the fact that he’s a well-rounded threat with incredible cardio and an iron chin.
The real intrigue in this fight is to find out whether Hernandez can have the same success against elite foes that he has had in dominating the back end of the 185-pound rankings, where he has finished six of his eight opponents during his current win streak. None were more impressive or demoralizing than the beating he put upon the typically durable Roman Dolidze last August when Hernandez made a point to gas the slugging Georgian out before dragging him to the center of the Octagon, choking him out and dropping his lifeless body.
“It’s like I have been telling the UFC, quit f—ing playing with me. Give me somebody that’s like a real test,” Hernandez mentioned. “[Dolidze] thought he was going to big brother me and walk through me. Yeah, he has beaten some people but that’s not the f—ing case. If I’m healthy, I’ll beat the f— out of you, I promise. I don’t care who the f— you are. That energy is just what I brought. If you are trying to big dog me, I’m going to f—ing big dog you.”
Although Strickland offensive game is typically built upon crowding his opponents with constant pressure and utilizing defense and head movement to be able to land strikes at close range without getting hit, he’s facing a fighter in Hernandez who can weaponize cardio in a manner that very few UFC fighters (namely former bantamweight king Merab Dvalishvili) are able to do.
Hernandez mentioned it normally takes him one to two rounds to fatigue and drown his opponents but expects the Strickland fight to be a much greater challenge that could take close to the five-round limit before he can “end up torturing him and drowning him.”
It’s because of Hernandez’s combination of skills, which include him holding UFC middleweight records for most career takedowns and highest significant striking percentage, that many are starting to believe he might be the perfect Kryptonite to the dominant wrestling game of unbeaten champion Khamzat Chimaev (15-0), who shut DDP out over five rounds last August to commandeer the title.
“[Chimaev] is just going to hug you and hold you down,” Hernandez mentioned. “He doesn’t want to f—ing bang on his feet and he’s not exciting. That’s kind of what I took away from that shit. But I believe that I am championship material. I believe I’ll beat Khamzat and I believe that I’ll clear out the division. That’s just what I truly believe. Until I’m proven wrong, I’m going to keep believing that shit.”
Although UFC has yet to name the first title challenger of Chimaev’s reign, No. 2-ranked Nassourdine Imavov and his five-fight win streak has him in the mix along with the winner of Saturday’s headlining bout. But the brash Strickland believes an immediate title shot is unlikely for anyone given the fact that the 31-year-old Chimaev has fought just once in each of the last three years.
“An immediate title shot? Do you know who is champion?” Strickland mentioned. “We have a Chechnyan f—ing whore as a champion. The title is on ice, dog. You think that guy is going to fight? And let’s say they give it to Nassourdine, every time this f—ing dude [Chimaev] fights, he sprains his pinky. The motherf—er is chronically hurt without any evidence. He apparently breaks his f—ing hand every fight and I’ve never seen an X-ray. The middleweight division will be on ice for a year and a half or two years until he is forced to fight.”
Regardless of what happens next, all eyes remain glued on a must-see middleweight tilt in Houston where Strickland believes that a finish of Hernandez is unlikely because “he has a f—ing brick for a head so it’s hard to put him away,” but that his advantages in striking and grappling should be enough.
Hernandez, meanwhile, is expecting a fast-paced dogfight, which is exactly the type of fight he relishes in creating.
“I think he’s going to try to bring it; Sean Strickland always brings it in his fights,” Hernandez mentioned. “He always goes f—ing forward and he is always trying to take your f—ing head off. That’s what I expect from him. I don’t expect anything less. I hope [UFC] really gets the hint that I need that belt. I have answered the calls and I have taken out the guys that they thought would beat me. [Strickland] is a really tough guy so I’m not sleeping on him but as long as I go out there and do what I do best, I think I’m going to beat him.”
