Gregory Rodrigues spoiled Anthony Hernandez's homecoming, beating the Sacramento native by unanimous decision in the main event of UFC Fight Night: Hernandez vs. Rodrigues at Golden 1 Center on Saturday. It was a five-round middleweight fight with real stakes: Hernandez, ranked sixth in the division, entered on an eight-fight run before a February loss to Sean Strickland, while Rodrigues, ranked 11th, was chasing the best win of his career in front of a hostile crowd. He got it.
The main event: Rodrigues survives a late rally
Rodrigues won this fight early and had to hang on late. His leg kicks were the difference in the opening rounds, buckling Hernandez's legs repeatedly and banking scorecards while Hernandez struggled to find his usual pace. That mattered, because the closing stretch went the other way: Hernandez rallied with the takedowns and clinch pressure that carried him to the edge of a title shot before Strickland stopped him, and turned a laugher into a real fight.
It wasn't enough. Judges scored it 49-46, 48-47 and 48-47 for Rodrigues, a Brazilian power puncher who has now won four straight, three of them by knockout, and the first decision of that stretch is arguably the more impressive result given who it came against. Hernandez's homecoming bid ends in his second straight loss, and a fighter who looked like a title threat six months ago now has questions to answer about his chin, cracked once by Strickland and tested again here.
The co-main: Petrino sweeps Spivac
Vitor Petrino kept his heavyweight climb going with a clean, one-sided decision over Serghei Spivac, a fighter ranked sixth in the division and considered one of its toughest outs on the ground. All three judges scored it 30-27 for Petrino across three rounds — a shutout. It's Petrino's fourth straight win since moving up from light heavyweight in 2025, and a real signal that the 28-year-old Brazilian belongs in the heavyweight top 15 conversation. Spivac, who came in off a rebound win over Ante Delija, now has to regroup after losing to a much less experienced opponent.
De Ridder's light-heavyweight move opens with a statement
Reinier de Ridder could not have scripted a better light-heavyweight debut. Roman Dolidze, a 38-year-old former middleweight top-15 fixture also making his 205-pound debut, pulled guard early and hunted a leg lock — an unusual gamble that backfired immediately. De Ridder scrambled free, took Dolidze's back, and unloaded well over a hundred ground strikes before the referee stepped in at 4:01 of round one.
It's the first win at light heavyweight for de Ridder, a former two-division champion in the ONE promotion who had dropped two of his last three fights at 185 pounds. For Dolidze, who was also coming off back-to-back losses, the move up a weight class opened with the same result he was trying to escape.
Mederos ends Mason Jones's win streak
MarQuel Mederos became the first fighter to ever finish Mason Jones, snapping the Welshman's seven-fight winning streak. A tight elbow in close wobbled Jones, and Mederos followed up against the fence with punches until the fight was stopped at 2:07 of round two. Mederos, a Contender Series alum who hadn't lost since his lone pro defeat, is now 12-1-1 and has won four straight. It's a statement finish for a fighter previously known more for his accuracy than his power.
Judice and Wint add two more first-round finishes
Carli Judice needed less than two minutes to end Jeisla Chaves's unbeaten run in the women's flyweight bout. A liver kick buckled Chaves early, and Judice closed it out with a punch flurry for the stoppage at 1:39 of round one — her fourth straight win.
In the heavyweight bout between two UFC debutants, Anthony Wint delivered on the hype that fast-tracked him onto the card. The former NFL linebacker, undefeated at 7-0 and coming off a 34-second knockout on the Contender Series, worked Terrance Chatman into an arm-triangle choke and forced the stoppage at 4:29 of round one.
Prelims
The seven preliminary fights produced five finishes, including a shocking submission at the literal final bell.
| Fight | Winner | Method | Round |
|---|---|---|---|
| Padilla vs. Haqparast | Chris Padilla | Submission (arm-triangle choke) | 3, 4:59 |
| Gaziev vs. Nzechukwu | Shamil Gaziev | KO/TKO (punch) | 1, 1:20 |
| Emmers vs. Douglas | Jamall Emmers | KO/TKO (punches) | 1, 3:38 |
| Barbosa vs. Kuse | Marcio Barbosa | KO/TKO (punches) | 1, 2:47 |
| Dorsainvil vs. Young | Stan Dorsainvil | Decision (unanimous) | 3 |
| McVey vs. Schultz | Jackson McVey | TKO (knee and punches) | 1, 4:13 |
| Dyer vs. Reed | Shanelle Dyer | TKO (punches) | 3, 1:42 |
Chris Padilla produced the wildest finish of the night. He dropped Nasrat Haqparast with a right hand in the final minute of round three, then locked in a standing arm-triangle choke that carried to the mat as the horn sounded, leaving Haqparast out cold. It's Padilla's fifth straight fight without a loss.
Two veterans bounced back from rough stretches: Shamil Gaziev ended a two-fight knockout skid by freezing Kennedy Nzechukwu with a first-round right hand, and 37-year-old Jamall Emmers pulled off the upset over surging prospect Lerryan Douglas, snapping Douglas's six-fight win streak with a big right hand at 3:38 of round one. Marcio Barbosa needed just one clean left hook to finish short-notice debutant Ryan Kuse, his second straight stoppage to open his UFC run.
Elsewhere, short-notice newcomer Stan Dorsainvil went 1-0 in the UFC, out-working Gauge Young for a unanimous-decision debut win. Jackson McVey avenged an old amateur loss to Wes Schultz with a body-shot TKO, and Shanelle Dyer improved to 2-0 in the UFC by out-landing hometown fighter Elise Reed 116-42 in significant strikes before the fight was stopped in round three.
What it means
Rodrigues walks away with the best win of his career and a real case for a top-10 middleweight ranking, while Hernandez has now lost two straight after an eight-fight run that once had him on the edge of title contention — his path back likely runs through a step down in competition before another crack at the top of the division. Petrino's shutout of a top-six heavyweight is the kind of result that forces the division to take a 28-year-old with three prior fights at 205 pounds seriously, and de Ridder's violent light-heavyweight debut suggests his ground game may simply be a bigger problem for bigger, slower opponents than it was for quicker middleweights. Full stats, records and the pre-fight breakdowns for every matchup are on the event page.