{"id":57661,"date":"2025-08-10T13:05:09","date_gmt":"2025-08-10T13:05:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/57661\/"},"modified":"2025-08-10T13:05:09","modified_gmt":"2025-08-10T13:05:09","slug":"ufc-contender-calls-out-middleweight-division-after-brutal-choke-win-eyes-ufc-319-main-event-winner","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/57661\/","title":{"rendered":"UFC contender calls out middleweight division after brutal choke win, eyes UFC 319 main event winner"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The middleweight division has been put on notice once again following Saturday\u2019s fight night at the Apex.<\/p>\n

In the UFC<\/a> middleweight division, the field is wide open after Reinier de Ridder\u2019s close decision win over Robert Whittaker<\/a> put the Dutchman within distance of title contention.<\/p>\n

Every contender is looking towards the UFC 319 main event between Dricus Du Plessis<\/a> and Khamzat Chimaev<\/a> to see who will be the champion that stands in their way.<\/p>\n

\"DricusPhoto by SAEED KHAN\/AFP via Getty Images<\/p>\n

While de Ridder gave a good account of himself, a new top competitor has emerged with a statement choke victory over a fellow ranked rival in Vegas overnight.<\/p>\n

UFC contender calls out middleweight division ahead of UFC 319<\/p>\n

Anthony \u2018Fluffy\u2019 Hernandez made a statement when he finished Roman Dolidze in the fourth round with a nasty upright rear-naked choke following a dominating display.<\/p>\n

A mix of accurate strikes, unbridled intensity, and solid groundwork made Dolidze look as though he was never in contention for the belt.<\/p>\n

Hernandez\u2019s win will push him into the top nine of the rankings, and he has already set his sights on the division\u2019s top prize.<\/p>\n

His post-fight speech laid out his ambition as he asked for a title shot \u2018next\u2019 to prove to fans that he is the \u2018best in the world\u2019.<\/p>\n

Speaking on the ESPN MMA post-show<\/a>, \u2018Fluffy\u2019 reaffirmed his intentions and took aim at the r\u00e9sum\u00e9 of the \u2018Dutch King\u2019.<\/p>\n

He said: \u201cI want the belt. The belt is what\u2019s going to change my kids\u2019 life. That\u2019s what\u2019s going to give them better opportunity in life.<\/p>\n

\u201cJust chasing these f- \u2013 -ing guys one fight at a time. There\u2019s no money in that I don\u2019t really care.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe had an impressive win over Whitaker. (Bo Nickel) He\u2019s got holes in his game. He\u2019s got a long way to go.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhitaker. I got nothing but respect for the guy, but he\u2019s one of the last guys that is one-dimensional.\u201d<\/p>\n

UFC contender said five months ago he\u2019d love the Dricus Du Plessis fight<\/p>\n

It is not a recent goal of the American\u2019s to fight Du Plessis for the belt; he was supposed to face him in 2022.<\/p>\n

After an opponent had pulled out of a bout with the South African, the 31-year-old was supposed to step in, but the fight did not transpire for an unknown reason.<\/p>\n

On a UFC media day in February, before his rematch win over Brendan Allen, he spoke to reporters about the DDP fight.<\/p>\n

Hernandez said: \u201cI like the fight with DDP. I was supposed to have that fight already. I said yes on like two weeks\u2019 notice or some s- \u2013 -. I believe I have the skills to beat the guy.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s crazy because I keep telling people, \u2018It looks like he\u2019s gassing,\u2019 but then the motherf- \u2013 \u2013 \u2013 \u2013 keeps coming forward. And he\u2019s awkward, so that throws people off. I definitely would like that fight.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Californian will be flown into Chicago to watch the UFC 319 main event and may even take the opportunity to call the winner out on the night to take his place at the front of the queue.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The middleweight division has been put on notice once again following Saturday\u2019s fight night at the Apex. In…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":57662,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[570],"tags":[64,63,20207,786,785,85,787],"class_list":["post-57661","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-mma","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-dricus-du-plessis","tag-fighting","tag-mma","tag-sports","tag-ufc"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/57661","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=57661"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/57661\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/57662"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=57661"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=57661"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=57661"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}