Anthony Hernandez.
Coming into his headlining bout against Sean Strickland Hernandez was hoping to cash in on an all-important win against a former champion that would likely catapult him into a title shot. After all, “Fluffy” was coming in scorching hot with eight straight wins, good enough to nab him the No. 4 spot.
Unfortunately for “Fluffy,” things didn’t go as he planned.
While the fight was fairly competitive in the first two rounds, Strickland turned up the heat in the third frame and delivered a crushing knee to the body that had Hernandez reeling. Once Strickland saw the weakness, he pounced on his foe and unloaded a barrage of strikes that dropped him to the canvas. From there, “Tarzan” didn’t let up until the official on duty stepped in to put an end to the bout.
And just like that Hernandez’s streak came to an abrupt end, as did his hopes of throwing his name into the hat for a championship fight.
“Thank you for the love Houston! The energy was unreal,” Hernandez wrote on social media after the defeat. “Congratulations to Sean Strickland, he was the better man tonight, much respect. I’ll be back better than ever.”
Despite the defeat, Hernandez is still young and in the prime of his fighting career which means even if he has to go back to the drawing board and rebuild, he can get back into the mix rather quickly. He possess a fan-friendly style and he has the ability to string together wins in a hurry as he’s proven in the past.
As far as what could be next for “Fluffy,” perhaps a showdown against the loser of the upcoming fight between Caio Borralho and Reinier de Ridder, which is set to co-headline UFC 326 on Saturday March 6, 2026 in Las Vegas, Nevada, is in order. Both matchups would a fresh one for “Fluffy,” and a win over either of those men would give him some much-needed confidence and get him back into the mix.
