Image: John Brannigan/Sherdog.com illustration

The
Ultimate Fighting Championship’s upcoming trip to Space City is
a solid example of what a fight night card should be in the
Paramount+ era.
UFC Fight Night 267, which goes down Saturday at Toyota Center
in Houston, features a headliner with immediate implications for
the middleweight title picture, and the rest of the 14-fight lineup
is stocked with reliable action heroes, interesting prospects and
quite a few fighters with Texas ties.

Outside of the excellent headliner, the rest of the six-fight main
card is a quietly solid offering, with a couple of all-action
scraps in Geoff Neal
vs. Uros
Medic and Dan Ige vs.
Melquizael
Costa, a meeting of ranked heavyweights looking to right the
ship after controversial losses—to the same foe, no less—and one of
the UFC’s most promising prospects, Jacobe
Smith, staking his undefeated record against fellow 11-0
welterweight Josiah
Harrell.

Here is the preview for the main card of UFC Fight Night 267, also
known as UFC Houston:Middleweights

BETTING ODDS: Hernandez (-300); Strickland
(+240)

Strickland (29-7; 16-10 UFC) suddenly has an open road back to the
title picture now that his two-time tormentor Dricus Du
Plessis has been dethroned, but he needs a win on Saturday if
he wants a shot anytime this year. “Tarzan” is a completely
different fighter from the athletic, dynamic welterweight who hit
the UFC a decade ago, in a good way. Injuries and the move up to
185 pounds have turned him into a unique fighter: a high-volume,
low-power striker who relies on a strong jab and forward movement
to win rounds while leaving his opponents struggling to get their
own offense going. It has worked shockingly well, as it did when he
stifled the usually dazzling Israel
Adesanya—and made it look easy—and thus far the only
middleweights who have beaten him decisively are Du Plessis and
Alex
Pereira.

Hernandez (15-2, 1 NC; 9-2 UFC) is on an absolute tear, compiling
an eight-fight win streak that includes back-to-back winners of
Sherdog’s “Beatdown of the Year.” Even more impressive, he has
fought just about every style of fighter the division has to offer,
and most of his foes have been ground into dust. Hernandez’s streak
began with his fabled win over Rodolfo
Vieira, in which he weathered the BJJ legend’s ground assault,
then tapped out an exhausted “Black Belt Hunter” in Round 2. It set
the pattern for “Fluffy,” who has established himself as perhaps
the best builder and cardio killer in the UFC alongside Merab
Dvalishvili, Belal
Muhammad and Max
Holloway. What has really helped Hernandez turn a corner,
however, is that his sometimes slow starts have mostly gone away,
leading to pillar-to-post maulings of worthy foes like Roman
Dolidze and Michel
Pereira.

Hernandez’s striking is more than serviceable, but it’s easy to
picture him being frustrated by the relentless advance and
peppering jab, cross and kicks of Strickland. It will also be
interesting to see if the trademark “Fluffy” avalanche can get
rolling against a fighter in Strickland who has even more
five-round experience and is himself a bit of a builder. Hernandez
is a massive favorite here, and rightfully so, but don’t be
surprised if this is an ugly, awkward fight in which Strickland
dictates the range, pace and location of engagement for long
stretches. The pick is Hernandez by decision, but Strickland is a
notoriously hard fighter to look good against even in victory;
luckily for Hernandez, a ninth straight win should be enough to
force the UFC’s hand regardless of how pretty it is.

Jump To »
Strickland vs. Hernandez

Neal vs. Medic

Ige vs. Costa

Spivac vs. Delija

Smith vs. Harrell

Reese vs. Pereira

The Prelims