Hernandez vs Rodrigues: Weights Official for UFC Sacramento Main Event
The #6 middleweight faces #11 Gregory Rodrigues in a five-round main event Saturday, with a light heavyweight scrap between Dolidze and De Ridder underneath.
By FightSplit Editorial Team · Published Aug 21, 2026

The paperwork's done. Both headliners hit the scale clean ahead of UFC Fight Night: Hernandez vs. Rodrigues, which lands Saturday, August 22 at the Golden 1 Center in Sacramento and streams on Paramount+. Prelims kick off at 5pm ET, with the main card following at 8pm ET.
The top line is a middleweight collision between #6 Anthony Hernandez (15-3) and #11 Gregory Rodrigues (19-6), scheduled for five rounds. It's a genuine ranking-mover, and stylistically it's about as clean a clash as the 185-pound division offers right now.
Hernandez is the more decorated name here, but he arrives off a setback. He was stopped by Sean Strickland via third-round TKO in his last outing, snapping the momentum that carried him into the top six. His resume tells you exactly how he wins: nine of his career victories come by submission, against just three by knockout. He's a grappler who drags you into deep water.
Styles Make the Fight
Rodrigues is the opposite problem. Twelve of his 19 wins are knockouts, and he's coming in hot after flattening Brunno Ferreira with a first-round punch. "Robocop" hits hard and doesn't need long to do damage, which makes the opening rounds against Hernandez the danger zone.
So the fight writes itself in broad strokes. If Rodrigues keeps it standing and forces Hernandez to trade, he's got the power to end it early. If Hernandez can close the distance, chain his takedowns and get to the mat, his submission game is the deeper toolbox over 25 minutes. Whoever imposes their preferred range wins.
The stakes are straightforward too. A win pushes Hernandez back toward the divisional conversation after the Strickland loss, while Rodrigues has a chance to leap several spots and crash the top ten for the first time. For a card without a title on the line, that's a legitimate contender fight.
The Co-Main Wrinkle
The co-main is the one to keep an eye on: Roman Dolidze against Reinier de Ridder. De Ridder (21-4) is ranked #9 and carries one of the more dangerous submission games in the division, with 13 of his wins coming by tap. He's looking to bounce back after dropping a unanimous decision to Caio Borralho.
Dolidze (15-5) sits at #15 and is also trying to right the ship, having lost a unanimous decision to Christian Leroy Duncan last time out. Both men need this. Two fighters coming off decision losses tend to fight with urgency, and neither can afford a third straight setback near the fringe of the rankings.
It's worth noting both De Ridder and Dolidze are ranked middleweights, which makes this a meaningful spot regardless of where it's contested. A win keeps a top-ten name relevant; a loss risks a slide out of the picture entirely.
The rest of the card fills out around those two fights, with every other bout scheduled for the usual three rounds. Sacramento hasn't hosted the UFC often, and the promotion has stacked the top of this one to make the trip count.
Bottom line: weights are official, the matchups are locked, and the Golden 1 Center has a main event with real ranking consequences on top and a top-ten grappling test underneath. Expect the finishers to swing early and the grapplers to grind late — that's the shape of this card.
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