Strickland dominates Hernandez in TKO win at UFC Fight Night - ESPN

Sean Strickland said he was expecting a «miserable» fight with Anthony «Fluffy» Hernandez on Saturday in Houston, but it turned out to be miserable for his opponent.

Strickland (30-7) recorded his first knockout in more than two years, as he stopped Hernandez (15-3) with strikes at 2:33 of the third round. It was Strickland's first appearance since he came up short in a middleweight title fight against Dricus Du Plessis in February 2025. That loss was widely regarded as one of the worst performances of Strickland's career, but he more than made up for it Saturday.

«I know at the weigh-in, we had some words,» said 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 but was a significant betting underdog to snap Hernandez's streak of eight consecutive wins. He flipped that script from the opening round, however, as he worked on Hernandez with his notorious jab and footwork.

The 17-year veteran predicted he would probably have to take Hernandez into the fourth and fifth rounds of a back-and-forth fight to break him, but instead Strickland hurt him with a knee to the body in the third. He finished the bout with body punches and a combination of uppercuts.

Although Strickland has said in recent interviews he doesn't expect to fight for the title anytime soon, given current champion Khamzat Chimaev's history of inactivity, he called for the