UFC middleweight (83.9 kg) No. 6 "Fluffy" Anthony Hernandez (32, United States) will face No. 11 "RoboCop" Gregory Rodriguez (34, Brazil) in Hernandez's home state of California.
UFC will hold UFC Fight Night: Hernandez vs. Rodriguez at the Golden 1 Center in Sacramento, California, on Sunday.
Hernandez (15-3-1 NC), who headlines the event on home soil, called it "like a dream" and said fighting in Sacramento as the main event was "a blessing — something I've dreamed about since I was 15." Rodriguez (19-6), who will face a hostile crowd in enemy territory, pushed back on any notion of pressure. "This is his hometown, not mine, so I have no pressure," he said. "The pressure is on Hernandez."
Both fighters have a win over "Iron Turtle" Park Jun-yong. Hernandez faced Park in Park's UFC debut in 2019, submitting him with an anaconda choke in the second round. Rodriguez met Park in 2021 and stopped him with a standing TKO via punches, also in the second round. Hernandez holds a 9-3 NC record in the UFC, while Rodriguez is 10-3, and both are active in the top 10.
Hernandez regrouped by training alongside champion Sean Strickland (35, United States), the man who handed him his last defeat. Hernandez had been riding an eight-fight winning streak before suffering a third-round TKO loss to Strickland via punches in February. He subsequently traveled to Las Vegas at Strickland's invitation to train at Xtreme Couture. "A loss doesn't define me," Hernandez said. "What defines me is what I learn from it and how I get better."
Both fighters have grappling backgrounds, but their MMA styles differ sharply. Hernandez has trained wrestling since high school and relies on grappling as his primary weapon in MMA. He holds the record for the most takedowns in UFC middleweight history (54) and ranks fourth all time in control time (1 hour, 11 minutes and 45 seconds). Rodriguez, by contrast, began training jiu-jitsu at age 8 and is a black belt with multiple tournament titles, yet in MMA he has established himself as a knockout specialist — 11 of his 19 wins have come by (T)KO.
Hernandez acknowledged Rodriguez as "a dangerous fighter with a lot of knockouts" but vowed to "suffocate him with pressure, which is what I do best." Rodriguez pointed to his roots. "My background is jiu-jitsu," he said. "You might just see Hernandez tapping to a submission this weekend."
The co-main event features heavyweight No. 6 Sergei Pavlovich (31, Moldova) against Vito Petrino (28, Brazil). In the fourth bout on the main card, middleweight No. 8 Reinier de Ridder (35, Netherlands) and No. 15 Roman Dolidze (38, Georgia) move up to light heavyweight (93 kg) to clash.
The main card of UFC Fight Night: Hernandez vs. Rodriguez will be broadcast live on tvN Sports and Tving starting at 9 a.m. Sunday.
yjc@heraldcorp.com
