Can ‘Fluffy’ Continue His Dominant Run Up the Middleweight Rankings?
Anthony Hernandez, since 2021, has won seven straight fights and has put himself as a real threat in the Middleweight Division. It’s been a slow climb up the rankings, as I feel like not many fighters want to risk their spot against the pressure and grappling ability that ‘Fluffy’ brings to the table. This Saturday, he looks to move inside the top 10 as he faces Roman Dolidze in the main event. Can ‘Fluffy’ overwhelm another ranked fighter, or will Dolidze’s experience halt Hernandez’s momentum in his tracks?
Anthony Hernandez is a nightmare matchup for anyone at 185. His constant in-your-face pressure and overwhelming takedown attempts will wear out anyone in the division. His cardio is out of this world, and unless you finish him early, he will drag you into deep waters and most likely finish you. He proved in his fight against Michel Pereira that he has good enough striking defense to be able to prevent himself from being in harm's way of a big shot that could potentially finish the fight. He followed that dominant performance up by beating another prolific grappler in Brendan Allen. That should have been one of his toughest matchups because Allen has good takedown defense and his BJJ is high level, but ‘Fluffy’ was able to drag him down and wear him out to win the fight by decision. In this upcoming fight against Dolidze, I don’t think Dolidze has the kind of power to finish him early on, and his cardio is nowhere near the level of Hernandez, so he will get taken down repeatedly as the fight goes on. I think Dolidze will be so worn out that he could potentially gas out and get finished in the later rounds.
Roman Dolidze looked like a potential title challenger in 2023 before running into Marvin Vettori and Nassourdine Imavov. He has been able to bounce back effectively by winning his last three fights, and one of them was over Vettori in their rematch. Dolidze is a solid wrestler in his own right and has the power in his hands to knock you out. His takedown defense is 33%, so he will get taken down, and against someone like Hernandez, that isn’t a good sign. However, in his fight against Jack Hermansson, he was being controlled and taken down in each of the first two rounds, but was able to use his grappling to turn the fight around and win at the end of the second round by knockout. If you keep Dolidze around, he will always have a chance to win the fight. His best chance to win this fight will be to keep the fight standing and his back away from the fence, but against Hernandez, that’s relatively impossible. He will need to scramble when the fight gets to the ground and try to use his grappling to turn positions and gain the advantage or lock in a submission.
Both of these fighters like to look for finishes, whether that’s on the feet or the ground. They both like to get in their opponents' faces and force the issue, so there should be exciting exchanges and scrambles when the fight hits the ground. A win for either fighter could earn a top-five matchup soon. With Dricus Du Plessis defending his Middleweight title against Khamzat Chimaev on August 16th, the UFC will be looking for new challengers as soon as possible, and both of these athletes have yet to compete for the world title. Whichever way this fight plays out, you don’t want to miss it and all the other action this Saturday, August 9th.
