Anthony Hernandez restarts the climb against Gregory Rodrigues

Anthony Hernandez is starting over on Saturday.

Six months ago, Hernandez (15-3, 1 NC) was the hottest hand at middleweight, eight straight wins deep and headlining against Sean Strickland with a title shot one good night away. Strickland stopped him in the third round, 2:23 in, at UFC Fight Night: Strickland vs Hernandez on February 21. The streak that took five years to build (submissions over Rodolfo Vieira, Roman Kopylov and Roman Dolidze, a fifth-round stoppage of Michel Pereira, a decision over Brendan Allen) died in one bad round.

Here is the part that should keep Hernandez up at night, and also the part that should comfort him: the man who beat him is now the champion. Strickland took the belt from Khamzat Chimaev by split decision at UFC 328 on May 9. Losing to the guy who then goes and wins the title is the most survivable loss in the sport. On the current middleweight board, Hernandez sits No. 7, and everyone above him is either booked into the title picture or coming off their own setback.

So Saturday's assignment is Gregory Rodrigues (19-6), the No. 10 middleweight, and it is a genuinely dangerous piece of matchmaking for a man rebuilding. "Robocop" has won three straight: a first-round knockout of Jack Hermansson that took Performance of the Night, a unanimous decision over Kopylov, and in March a 107-second flattening of Brunno Ferreira that avenged his 2023 knockout loss to the same man and collected another bonus check. Rodrigues is 34, surging at exactly the right time, and he has never had a Saturday quite this valuable.

For Hernandez the math is simple. Beat the No. 10 and the No. 7 spot holds, with wins already banked over Allen (No. 5 today) and Dolidze. Lose, and the February knockout stops looking like a champion-in-waiting stumble and starts looking like a pattern.

There is a nice bit of symmetry further down the card: Dolidze, the last man Hernandez submitted, moves up to light heavyweight to face Reinier de Ridder on the same night. We broke down the takedown numbers in that one earlier this week.

UFC Fight Night: Hernandez vs Rodrigues goes down Saturday, August 22 at Golden 1 Center in Sacramento, California, with Serghei Spivac vs Vitor Petrino at heavyweight in the co-main. Broadcast details for your country are on the how to watch page.