Strickland dominates Hernandez in TKO win at UFC Fight Night
Sean Strickland mentioned he was anticipating a “miserable” struggle with Anthony “Fluffy” Hernandez on Saturday in Houston, but it surely turned out to be depressing for his opponent.
Strickland (30-7) recorded his first knockout in greater than two years, as he stopped Hernandez (15-3) with strikes at 2:33 of the third spherical. It was Strickland’s first look since he got here up brief in a middleweight title struggle in opposition to Dricus Du Plessis in February 2025. That loss was extensively considered one of many worst performances of Strickland’s profession, however he greater than made up for it Saturday.
“I know at the weigh-in, we had some words,” mentioned Strickland, referring to some heated exchanges with Hernandez earlier in the week. “But after that fight, I feel I’m part Mexican. That was a f—ing war, and I cannot thank Fluffy enough. He is the definition of a man. To be honest, Fluffy is the man I want to be. He’s married, a father, a hard worker — he’s a better man than I could hope to be.”
Strickland, 34, was ranked No. 3 in the UFC’s middleweight division going into the bout however was a major betting underdog to snap Hernandez’s streak of eight consecutive wins. He flipped that script from the opening spherical, nevertheless, as he labored on Hernandez together with his infamous jab and footwork.
The 17-year veteran predicted he would in all probability need to take Hernandez into the fourth and fifth rounds of a back-and-forth struggle to interrupt him, however as an alternative Strickland damage him with a knee to the physique in the third. I completed the bout with physique punches and a mix of uppercuts.
Although Strickland has mentioned in latest interviews he would not count on to struggle for the title anytime quickly, given present champion Khamzat Chimaev‘s historical past of inactivity, he referred to as for the chance anyway after Saturday’s victory.
“If Chimaev gets off the bench, I’d like a piece,” Strickland mentioned. “You never know with that guy, but that’s what I want.”
According to UFC Stats, Strickland outlanded Hernandez 92-62 in whole strikes and defended Hernandez’s solely try at a takedown. Fighting out of Las Vegas, Strickland admitted he fought Du Plessis final yr with an injured shoulder after which missed time in the second half of 2025 on account of a suspension from the Nevada State Athletic Commission for his position in a postfight altercation at a neighborhood occasion in June.
The time without work might need executed him effectively. His final end earlier than Saturday was a second-round knockout of Abus Magomedov in July 2023. For Hernandez, 32, it snapped a win streak that dated to February 2021. Hernandez misplaced to Kevin Holland in May 2020, earlier than rattling off eight consecutive wins with six finishes.
“I thought it was going good, I thought it was [one round each]but maybe I got sloppy and got caught with the knee up the center,” Hernandez mentioned. “It’s OK. I’m going back to the drawing board and it will get better. You saw what happened the last time I lost, I got better.”
