Dolidze, Hernandez kick off huge month for middleweights at UFC Fight Night

August is shaping up to be a massive month for the middleweight division.

Top-10 contenders Roman Dolidze and Anthony Hernandez are in the spotlight this weekend as the UFC remains at the Apex in Las Vegas for a second consecutive weekend of Fight Night action.

Dolidze is the No. 9-ranked athlete at 185 pounds but enters Saturday’s card as more than a two-to-one underdog against Hernandez, who sits one spot behind him at No. 10 in the weight class.

Both fighters are riding impressive winning streaks and looking to remain relevant to the title picture with current champion Dricus Du Plessis set to defend his title next weekend at UFC 319 against undefeated challenger Khamzat Chimaev.

Du Plessis is 9-0 in the UFC and Chimaev is 8-0, with Hernandez’s active hot streak not far off those streaks. Hernandez is on a dominant seven-fight run with five of those wins coming by stoppage and he hasn’t lost in more than five years as he enters his prime fighting years.

The 31-year-old from California has become known for his relentless pace and pressure and is coming off a win over Brendan Allen in February.

Meanwhile, Dolidze has bounced back from a majority decision loss to No. 1-ranked contender Nassourdine Imavov early in 2024 with three consecutive wins.

The 37-year-old from Batumi, Georgia, defeated Anthony Smith last June in a light-heavyweight matchup, then later that year earned a technical knockout win over Kevin Holland — the last person to get a win over Hernandez — and began his 2025 campaign with a five-round unanimous decision win over Marvin Vettori in a March Fight Night main event.

Stylistically, this weekend’s headliner could be shaped by whether Hernandez can get this fight to the ground.

Hernandez leads all active middleweights in total takedowns with 45 over his 10 UFC appearances, averaging 6.27 takedowns per 15 minutes of cage time, and once he’s on the ground he gets to work.

You won’t hear anyone describe Hernandez as the lay-and-pray type, though, since Hernandez is active with ground-and-pound and leads all UFC middleweights by averaging 1.96 submission attempts per 15 minutes.

Dolidze is a physically strong middleweight with a grappling base and has never been finished in his 18-fight professional career. However, he only defends one-third of takedown attempts against him in the UFC.

“I think he has faced some good opponents but he never faced somebody with grappling like me,” Dolidze said Wednesday at the official Fight Night media availability at the UFC Apex. “We all know that he has good cardio and he loves to be on the ground and control people there, but I’m very active on the ground. I don’t give rest to nobody.”

Dolidze absorbs roughly one significant strike for each one he lands (3.58 landed vs 3.56 absorbed per 15 minutes), whereas Hernandez lands 4.50 and eats only 2.61, plus he connects at a much more efficient rate (63 per cent compared to just 42 per cent for Dolidze).

This isn’t the first time these two have been scheduled to face each other. They were initially supposed to meet at UFC 302 last June but the bout was cancelled when Hernandez had to withdraw with a hand injury.

“He’s pretty similar to the way he’s always fought,” Hernandez said of Dolidze. “He will (expletive) throw bombs, if that doesn’t work, he’ll drop and throw Hail Mary heel hooks. I think we got him figured out. We got a lot of big guys for this fight camp, a lot of strong guys. My team has done everything, done all the research, all the homework. They make it very simple for my dumbass to just go out there and fight.”

The winner of Saturday’s main event won’t be positioned for the next title shot, but they will move one step closer to contention and will be in line for another marquee matchup.

Imavov and Caio Borralho meet in September in a de facto title eliminator; Reinier De Ridder recently shot up the rankings thanks to his July win over former champ Robert Whittaker; past titleholders Sean Strickland and Israel Adesanya remain ranked in the top five; UFC 319 also features former title challenger Jared Cannonier facing Michael “Venom” Page in a middleweight contest, plus Paulo Costa turned back the clock with his win over Roman Kopylov at UFC 318 a few weeks ago.

Hernandez was asked for his thoughts on the upcoming title matchup and is siding with the reigning champ, who, despite holding the belt, is the listed underdog.

“I think Du Plessis’s going to surprise a lot of people because he’s a tough, awkward (expletive) and Khamzat’s fought a lot of small guys and last-minute (opponents),” Hernandez explained. “He’s kind of a weight bully, so I’m kind of not sold on him. He’s kind of a (expletive), so I probably just don’t like him. … I think Du Plessis is going to show the world. Like, he’s tough, he keeps coming forward. I’m curious to see what (Chimaev) can do with a guy that’s actually well-rounded.”

Below is the projected bout order for Saturday’s 12-bout card:

MAIN CARD

-- Roman Dolidze vs. Anthony Hernandez

-- Steve Erceg vs. Ode' Osbourne

-- Iasmin Lucindo vs. Angela Hill

-- Andre Fili vs. Christian Rodriguez

-- Miles Johns vs. Jean Matsumoto

-- Eryk Anders vs. Christian Leroy Duncan

PRELIMINARY CARD

-- Julius Walker vs. Raffael Cerqueira

-- Elijah Smith vs. Toshiomi Kazama

-- Joselyne Edwards vs. Priscila Cachoeira

-- Uros Medic vs. Gilbert Urbina

-- Gabriella Fernandes vs. Julija Stoliarenko

-- Cody Brundage vs. Eric Moicano