If Anthony Hernandez isn’t in the UFC middleweight title-challenger conversation, he’s getting pretty dang close.
In the main event of UFC Vegas 109 at the APEX, Hernandez dominated Roman Dolidze on his way to a victory by fourth-round submission, extending his win streak to eight. On a night when a guy rendered his opponent unconscious by slamming him into the mat, it was “Fluffy” who might have had the most one-sided win on the card.
Hernandez punished Dolidze so much in the second round that when the buzzer sounded, his team thought the fight was over. Hernandez was raining down blows when referee Herb Dean stepped in to separate them, causing Hernandez and his corner to start celebrating what they believed was a stoppage.
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Dean quickly corrected the record.
The question now becomes what’s next for Hernandez. He has something in mind.
“I want a title shot. What do I got to f***ing do?” Hernandez said in his post-fight Octagon interview. That f-bomb honestly might have been his biggest misstep of the night, as Daniel Cormier quickly reminded him they were live on ESPN, not on pay-per-view.
UFC middleweight champion Dricus du Plessis is set to defend his title against Khamzat Chimaev next week at UFC 319, though there could be other fighters still ahead of Hernandez, who entered Saturday 10th in the promotion’s middleweight rankings. Hernandez also said he would open to competing for a “BMF” title.
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With the form he showed against Dolidze, from chasing him around the Octagon to raining blows on the ground with no apparent concerns about fatigue, he should certainly have something big coming for his next fight.
In the co-main event, former flyweight title challenger Steve Erceg survived some big blows from Ode’ Osbourne in the first round then came back to win by unanimous decision, breaking a three-fight losing streak in his debut at bantamweight.
No fighter on the card needed a win like Erceg, who got a title shot against Alexandre Pantoja shockingly early in his UFC career, then lost that fight and subsequent bouts against Kai Kara-France and Brandon Moreno to get ejected from the flyweight elite. He said this week he could be fighting for his contract, so he had plenty of reason to celebrate.
Check out full UFC Vegas 109 results and highlights below.
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Main Card
Middleweight: Anthony Hernandez def. Roman Dolidze via submission (rear-naked choke) at 2:45 of R4
Bantamweight: Steve Erceg def. Ode’ Osbourne via unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 29-28)
Women’s strawweight: Iasmin Lucindo def. Angela Hill via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 29-28)
Featherweight: Andre Fili def. Christian Rodriguez via split decision (29-28, 29-28, 30-27)
Bantamweight: Jean Matsumoto def. Miles Johns via split decision (29-28, 28-29, 29-28)
Middleweight: Christian Leroy Duncan def. Eryk Anders via TKO (spinning back elbow and punches) at 3:53 of R1 | Watch finish
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Preliminary Card
Light heavyweight: Julius Walker def. Rafael Cerqueira via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-26)
Bantamweight: Elijah Smith def. Toshiomi Kazama via KO (slam) at 4:10 of R1 | Read more
Women’s bantamweight: Joselyne Edwards def. Priscila Cachoeira via KO (punches) at 2:24 of R1 | Watch finish
Welterweight: Uroš Medić def. Gilbert Urbina via KO (punch) at 1:03 of R1 | Watch finish
Women’s flyweight: Gabriella Fernandes def. Julija Stoliarenko via unanimous decision (30-27, 29-28, 29-28)
Light heavyweight: Eric McConico def. Cody Brundage via split decision (29-28, 27-30, 29-28)
