Anthony Hernandez

Overview

Nine UFC wins, seven finishes, and not one of them in the first round. Anthony Hernandez, "Fluffy" out of Oakland, gets there in the middle rounds, not early.

The Middleweight is 9-4 in the UFC and 15-4-0 across all promotions. Five of the wins came by submission and two by KO/TKO. His longest UFC win streak is eight, and two of the wins came against opponents our model rates as elite. He carries a two-fight losing streak into his next bout.

Nine wins. Seven finishes. Zero first-round ones.

UFC Career

The start was rough. Hernandez debuted in February 2019 and lost by second-round submission to Markus Perez, 1:07 into the round. His Dana White's Contender Series fight against Jordan Wright in 2018 ended in a first-round no contest after an overturned result. That fight sits outside his UFC record.

He answered with a second-round submission of JunYong Park in August 2019, then took a first-round knockout loss to Kevin Holland at 0:39 in May 2020. After that, the next loss was nearly six years away.

The run began with a second-round submission of Rodolfo Vieira at UFC 258, followed by a unanimous decision over Josh Fremd. Then came Marc-Andre Barriault by third-round submission, Edmen Shahbazyan by third-round TKO, and Roman Kopylov by second-round submission. That's five straight, and the streak eventually reached eight.

The headliner version of Hernandez arrived in October 2024. He stopped Michel Pereira in the fifth round of a five-round main event, 2:22 into the round. Two elite opponents followed: a unanimous decision over Brendan Allen and a fourth-round submission of Roman Dolidze in another five-round main event.

Then the streak ended. Sean Strickland stopped him in the third round of a main event in February 2026, and Gregory Rodrigues beat him by unanimous decision over five rounds in a main event in August 2026. Both were strong opponents.

Eight wins in a row, then two main-event losses.

Fighting Style

Anthony Hernandez is a grappler who also lands cleanly on the feet. He is accurate with his strikes and takes a lot of takedowns, and he is hard to take down himself. He hunts for submissions constantly, and five of his nine UFC wins came that way.

He is not only a submission threat, though. Two of his UFC wins came by KO/TKO, including a fifth-round finish of Pereira.

Defense on the feet is the soft spot. He is hit more often than most fighters when strikes come his way, and two of his four UFC losses came by KO/TKO.

His finishes come late. All seven arrived between rounds two and five, with three second-round submissions, two in the third, and one each in the fourth and fifth. He has no first-round finishes in the UFC.

Notable Wins

• Roman Dolidze — submission, round 4, UFC Fight Night: Dolidze vs Hernandez (2025)
• Brendan Allen — unanimous decision, UFC Fight Night: Cejudo vs Song (2025)
• Michel Pereira — KO/TKO, round 5, UFC Fight Night: Hernandez vs Pereira (2024)
• Edmen Shahbazyan — KO/TKO, round 3, UFC Fight Night: Dern vs. Hill (2023)

Quick Facts

• Division: Middleweight
• UFC record: 9-4
• Professional record (all promotions): 15-4-0
• UFC debut: 2019
• Stance: Orthodox
• Height / reach: 6'0" / 75"
• Team: Team Fluffy
• Born: Oakland, CA, United States