With five finishes in his last seven fights, the 31-year-old graduate of Dana White’s Contender Series is arguably the hottest 185er not named Dricus Du Plessis, and yet the Dunnigan, California-native only recently moved into the top 10 following his victory over Brendan Allen in February 2025.
A streak like that, paired with a surprising lack of buzz around him, leads to the catch-22 that is the “dark horse” label. Those who know and understand Hernandez as a fighter know he’s one of the best in the world, and although word is spreading, it hasn’t yet caught on fully. Hernandez, however, isn’t going to start acting out of character to get more eyeballs on him. He’ll let his fighting do the talking, and the talk has been plenty enough.
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“I’ve always had a chip on my shoulder,” he said. “I’m doing this s*** to prove I’m the best in the world. I want to prove to all the kids back home (from) small towns you can do whatever the f*** you put your mind to. You just dial in.”
After a rocky start to his UFC tenure, which included one win in four outings, Hernandez locked in and started drowning people. First came a shocking submission win over jiu jitsu wizard Rodolfo Vieira. After beating Josh Fremd via decision, Hernandez tallied consecutive finishes over Marc-André Barriault, Edmen Shahbazyan, Roman Kopylov and Michel Pereira. His win over Pereira came in his first UFC main event, and the fifth-round TKO stands as the latest knockout in UFC middleweight history.
