Middleweights
NR | Anthony Hernandez (8-2, 2-2 UFC) vs. NR | Josh Fremd (9-2, 0-0 UFC)If nothing else, Hernandez will wind up with one of the more memorable upsets in recent UFC history. Heading into his bout at UFC 258 in February 2021, Hernandez figured to be easy work for Rodolfo Vieira. The Brazilian is one of the most decorated grapplers on the UFC roster, and Hernandez’s aggression and lack of defense figured to lead him right into a submission. Vieira did indeed get the fight he wanted, but then things went completely off-script. Hernandez just kept surviving to the point that he was able to exhaust Vieira and somehow score a second-round submission of his own; it was one of the unlikeliest submissions in the history of the sport. Getting an opportunity to follow that up has been difficult for “Fluffy,” as injuries scrapped multiple prior matchups. He has been matched against three different opponents on this card alone, eventually landing on this pairing against an Octagon newcomer.
Fremd is a solid prospect, as he is a tall and physical middleweight who is also pathologically aggressive, mostly on the back of single big strikes and an effective wrestling and grappling game. That makes this essentially a mirror match. Both men figure to move forward and throw, and from there, it is essentially a toss-up as to who will land first. Fremd might be the harder shot-for-shot hitter and more physical fighter, but Hernandez does seem to be the less willing of the two to step back. When combined with the fact that Fremd often gets cracked early in his fights, that is enough to give the UFC veteran the narrow edge. This is a fight that could be over at any moment in either direction, but the pick is Hernandez via first-round knockout.
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