Sean Strickland feels he has all the skills that will give him a big edge when he faces off with Anthony "Fluffy" Hernandez in the main event of UFC Houston this weekend.
Strickland is known for being a pressure-heavy fighter, but most of that comes from his boxing. Strickland, in fact, prefers to use his fists when in combat.
But that doesn't mean he's not a good grappler; in fact, Strickland, who is a black belt in Brazilian jiu-jitsu, is considered underrated in the discipline.
Hernandez is known for his grappling, but Strickland says anyone expecting "Fluffy" to succeed with takedowns and wrestling might be in for a surprise.
During the UFC Houston media day, Strickland hinted that he may use grappling to help him set up a late finish.
"I'm not the hardest guy to take down — and I don't care about getting taken down," Strickland said. "I think it's going to be a five-round grappling match, which I will out-grapple him. And then I'll TKO him in the fourth or fifth round."
Strickland, in fact, says he's been looking forward to this matchup with Hernandez as a means of testing his grappling capabilities.
"I've never done much grappling, especially this late into my career, so this is a test that I wanted," Strickland said. "I do much more wrestling than I do striking in my training camps — so really it's just having the gas tank to wrestle for five rounds.
"Generally, he takes guys down and breaks them, but I’m not a guy who breaks."
Strickland is 4-2 in his last six. This will be his first fight since losing a middleweight championship rematch with Dricus Du Plessis at UFC 312. Strickland upset Israel Adesanya for the title at UFC 293 but dropped the title to DDP at UFC 297.
Hernandez has won eight straight, including a decision win over Brendan Allen and a submission win over Roman Dolidze last year.