Gregory Rodrigues left his mark and showed he may be ready for top competition at middleweight, coming out on top in a five-round war with Anthony “Fluffy” Hernandez that headlined UFC Sacramento.
Hernandez immediately pressured, bringing Rodrigues to the fence. He looked to get a takedown, but Rodrigues worked his way out of it, landing a knee to the midsection with it. Hernandez tried again, but the fight went back to the center, where Rodrigues got the better of the exchanges. Hernandez pressed Rodrigues once more but didn’t get much with it.
Rodrigues got off to a strong start in the second, getting into striking exchanges again with Hernandez — with Rodrigues having a clear advantage. Rodrigues slipped Hernandez up with a couple of leg kicks, briefly grounding him and landing some strong strikes. Hernandez, with his back to the wall, ate some strong punches from “Robocop.”
Rodrigues landed another leg kick to slip Hernandez up, and things looked grim for “Fluffy” with Rodrigues’ powerful striking. But Hernandez endured and ended the second round trading power shots with “Robocop.”
Hernandez wasted no time in round three, scoring an immediate takedown and working his way to the back of Rodrigues, threatening a choke and landing punches to the head. Rodrigues survived that but struggled with Hernandez’s pressure here, consistently having his back to the fence.
The two went back to exchanging in the fourth round, with Rodrigues starting to take control back. Rodrigues’ power was seen in a couple of strong right hands on Hernandez near the fence. A couple of flurries did damage, but Hernandez was able to survive, even adding a takedown in the round’s final minute.
Hernandez pursued a takedown to start the fifth, resulting in a clinch exchange. About halfway through the round, Rodrigues got out of the clinch and began to work his strikes again, eventually landing another leg-kick knockdown with about a minute left in the fight. “Robocop” landed some strong ground strikes and got on top to seal the deal.
Rodrigues has now won four straight and seven of his last eight fights, as he positions himself for a potential top-five opponent next.
