Hernandez trains with Strickland after stoppage loss to reignite passion ahead of UFC Sacramento main event

Anthony Hernandez has turned one of the toughest losses of his career into an unlikely source of motivation, spending the summer training alongside the man who stopped him — Sean Strickland — ahead of his UFC Sacramento main event against Gregory Rodrigues this Saturday.

Hernandez was finished by Strickland at UFC Houston earlier this year, a result that sent him back to the drawing board. Rather than retreating to familiar surroundings, he left Sacramento, his training partners, and his family behind to relocate to Las Vegas for the bulk of his camp, working out of Xtreme Couture and making extensive use of the UFC Performance Institute.

“It kind of re-sparked that love for martial arts for me, and I mean, I’ve been doing this shit for a long time,” Hernandez told MMA Fighting. “And to be honest, I was kind of getting sick of Sacramento anyways. So going out there was exciting. It was new. It was fun.”

The middleweight, known as “Fluffy”, described the environment at Xtreme Couture as exactly the jolt he needed. Sharing the mats with Strickland — who has since reclaimed the UFC middleweight title — and a roster of hungry fighters forced Hernandez to sharpen every aspect of his game.

“A lot of the guys I fought, and there’s a lot of new guys there so it’s just like a lot of hungry guys, and they’ll take your head off if you let them,” he said. “So for me it was about jumping in the fire and having to sharpen all my tools with guys with multiple layers. And it was a great outcome for me. I had a great camp.”

Hernandez was candid about his desire to move past the Strickland defeat rather than dwell on it. “Don’t lose,” he said with a laugh before turning serious. “I really don’t give a f*ck about the past. I’m focused on Gregory Rodrigues right now, that’s all I can think about.”

He also credited his wife and the grandparents at home for holding things together while he committed fully to the camp. “My wife, thank God for her, and the grandparents because they’ve been holding it down for me while I’m able to chase this dream.”

Those who have followed Hernandez closely noted a visible shift in his demeanour heading into fight week — fewer smiles, sharper focus, and a quiet intensity that has not always been present in previous build-ups. Whether that translates into a statement performance against the hard-hitting Rodrigues remains to be seen, but Hernandez arrives in Sacramento with a renewed sense of purpose.