Stakes high for top-10 middleweight clash in UFC Sacramento main event

The Octagon heads to Golden 1 Center — the home of the NBA’s Kings — in Sacramento, Calif., this Saturday for a UFC Fight Night card featuring 12 fights, including a five-round middleweight headliner between Anthony Hernandez and Gregory Rodrigues.

With many exciting fights on the card, let’s take a look at the biggest storylines heading into it.

The main event of UFC Sacramento is a five-round middleweight matchup between two of the top-10 ranked fighters in the weight class, Anthony Hernandez and Gregory Rodrigues.

Hernandez, better known by his nickname “Fluffy,” is coming off a knockout loss to Sean Strickland at UFC Houston earlier this year, snapping his eight-fight win streak.

Despite that defeat, however, Hernandez remains one of the top-ranked middleweights in the sport today, and a win over Rodrigues would put him right back into title contention at 185 pounds.

Of course, winning this fight won’t be easy because Rodrigues is a stud himself. The Brazilian has won six of his last seven fights and has won seven fights by knockout overall during his UFC career, as he truly has immense power in his hands.

This is a massive fight in the UFC middleweight division, as the winner will remain a top title contender, while the loser will have a hard time getting back to the top of the weight class.

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The co-main event on Saturday is a heavyweight matchup between Serghei Spivac and Vitor Petrino.

Spivac has pretty much fought everyone since he first joined the organization in 2019 for UFC Fight Night: Iaquinta vs. Cowboy , an event that took place in Ottawa.

The big Moldovan has been inconsistent over the years, holding a 9-6 record in the octagon, but he is coming off a big win over Ante Delija and will be looking to make it two straight victories.

As for Petrino, the Brazilian bruiser moved up to heavyweight last year, and it looks like a terrific career decision as he has won three straight fights and is closing in on the division’s elite.

The fact that this fight is the co-main event is telling, as the UFC likely wants Petrino to win and become a new title contender at heavyweight, though big Spivac will look to play spoiler.

The UFC is always looking for new stars in the women’s weight classes, and one of them could be Louisiana native Carli Judice, who takes on Jeisla Chaves in a women’s flyweight bout.