Fight By Fight Preview | UFC Fight Night: Hernandez vs Pereira
Looking At The Lineup For Saturday’s Event At The UFC APEX
By E. Spencer Kyte, on X @spencerkyte
It’s kind of fitting that the final two UFC APEX events of 2024 take place on either side of the mixed martial arts leader making a trip north of the border to Edmonton, as no place is more closely associated with the number 99 than “The City of Champions,” where Wayne Gretzky carried the Oilers to four Stanley Cup championships.
Saturday’s event — the 99th to take place at the UFC APEX — is headlined by a tremendously intriguing middleweight clash between surging hopefuls Anthony Hernandez and Michel Pereira, backed by a main card flush with compelling pairings and a preliminary card slate that will likely provide important insights about a handful of developing names.
This is a quality slate that should serve as a strong setup to next weekend’s pay-per-view event in Abu Dhabi and deliver an enjoyable afternoon of face-punching entertainment.
Let’s get into it!
Main Event: Anthony Hernandez vs Michel Pereira
Anthony Hernandez and Michel Pereira share the main event spotlight in this captivating battle between two of the hottest middleweights in the UFC at the moment.
Hernandez lands his first main event assignment a day after his 31st birthday, carrying a five-fight winning streak into Saturday’s clash with Pereira. A member of the Dana White’s Contender Series (DWCS) Class of ’18, the Northern California-based standout has collected three straight stoppages during the course of his current run of success, most recently dominating and submitting Roman Kopylov at UFC 298 in February.
Pereira has collected three straight stoppage wins since moving up to the middleweight division, needing less time to finish his work in each successive outing. The 31-year-old Brazilian has won eight straight overall and nine of his 11 starts inside the Octagon, establishing himself as a perpetually entertaining, ever-dangerous threat.
There has been a great deal of change in the middleweight division over the last couple years and these two are part of the group making a serious push forward. Hernandez has clearly done away with the inconsistency that plagued his early days in the promotion, while Pereira’s dialing back the crazy has helped him perform at his absolute best as of late, setting up this pivotal matchup that will determine which of these two takes a big step forward heading into 2025.
Additional Main Card Bouts
Rob Font vs Kyler Phillips
Saturday’s co-main event sees Rob Font face off with Kyler Phillips in what has the potential to be a changing of the guard moment in the bantamweight ranks.
The 37-year-old Font touches down in Las Vegas having dropped two straight and four of his last five, with his lone win during that stretch coming against Adrian Yanez back at UFC 287 in Miami. The Massachusetts native boasts an incredible “strength of schedule” for the division and has only lost to elite competition, but is in need of a sharp outing here in order to stem the tide and show he’s still capable of battling it out with Top 15 talents.
Phillips arrives moving in the opposite direction, having posted three straight wins while showing signs of development and improvement each time out. The MMA Lab representative has displayed better conditioning and pacing during the course of his current run of success, and has always had a diverse and dangerous skill set, all of which combines to make him someone to keep close tabs on going forward.
At some point, the old guard gives way to the new class in every division, and it feels like that is increasingly the case in the lighter weight classes at the moment. Can Font bounce-back and maintain his place in the Top 10 or is Phillips now ready to ascend into the upper echelon of talent in the 135-pound ranks?
Charles Johnson vs Sumudaerji
Charles Johnson makes his fourth start of 2024, welcoming Sumudaerji back to the Octagon for the first time in over a year.
St. Louis’ favorite fighting son has been one of the most active competitors on the roster since signing with the promotion in the summer of 2022, with Saturday’s outing marking his 10th trip into battle on the big stage. So far this year, Johnson has posted a trio of victories, most recently registering a third-round knockout win over Joshua Van in Denver that earned him a Performance of the Night bonus.
Injuries and different issues have kept Sumudaerji from competing much since the beginning of 2021, as Saturday’s contest marks just his third appearance over the last three years, and first since last summer. Still only 28 years old, the Chinese veteran has dropped consecutive contests by submission and looks to recapture the form that made him an intriguing addition to the flyweight ranks all the way back in 2020 when he sparked Malcolm Gordon in 44 seconds.
While there are no immediate divisional stakes on the line here, this is a massively important matchup for each man, as Johnson has the opportunity to post a fourth win in 2024 and continue building momentum, while Sumudaerji can quickly re-establish himself as an emerging threat if he were to claim a victory.
Brady Hiestand vs Jake Hadley
Young, talented bantamweights collide here as Brady Hiestand and Jake Hadley share the Octagon on Saturday’s main card.
A finalist on Season 29 of The Ultimate Fighter, Hiestand has gone 3-0 since then, displaying tremendous resolve and resilience along the way. The Sikjitsu representative has been forced to work his way out of bad spots and tight battles in each of those three contests, most recently persevering to submit Garrett Armfield in the third round of their June encounter at the UFC APEX.
A member of the DWCS Class of ’21, Hadley arrived in the UFC as an unbeaten hopeful following a quality run under the Cage Warriors banner, but he struggled out of the chute, posting a 2-3 mark in his first four outings at flyweight. Back in July, he stepped up to bantamweight for a short-notice pairing with Caolan Loughran and turned in a quality effort, out-working his Irish counterpart to generate a little intrigue around his upside in the 135-pound ranks.
Not only is this a “which one moves forward” type of matchup, but it has the potential to tell us a great deal about each of these talented 20-somethings. Both have shown flashes during their limited appearances to date, and a strong showing for either one here could catapult them up the ranks heading into next year.
Darren Elkins vs Daniel Pineda
Darren Elkins and Daniel Pineda face off in a featherweight clash between two of the most grizzled veterans on the roster.
Saturday marks Elkins’ 29th appearance in the Octagon and 40th fight overall, with the 40-year-old entering off a third-round submission win over TJ Brown last October. “The Damage” is one of the most resilient fighters in UFC history and a menace for anyone that doesn’t have the conditioning to go 15 grueling, bloody minutes with him.
Not to be outdone, the 39-year-old Pineda makes his 48th career start on Saturday, looking to snap a two-fight skid. Like Elkins, the Houston native has carved out a career based on his uncanny ability to deal with adversity and finish fights, as Pineda still maintains a 100 percent finishing rate.
There is a high likelihood that this one takes Fight of the Night honors, and if it doesn’t, it’s only going to be because one of these two certified madmen — and I say that with the utmost love and respect — finds a way to end things before the final horn sounds. Buckle up and enjoy!
Matheus Nicolau vs Asu Almabayev
Flyweights open the main card as Mattheus Nicolau and Asu Almabayev face off in a crucial divisional battle.
A Top 10 mainstay throughout his two stints on the UFC roster, Nicolau returns to Las Vegas in search of his first victory since the close of 2022. The 31-year-old Brazilian has been knocked out in each of his last two outings — first by Brandon Royval, most recently by Alex Perez — and is at risk of tumbling further down the rankings if he incurs another loss this weekend.
Almabayev has gone 3-0 to begin his UFC tenure, extending his overall winning streak to 16 in the process. After submitting Ode’ Osbourne in his debut, the 30-year-old Kazakh has earned back-to-back decision wins over C.J. Vergara and Jose Johnson to climb into the rankings and start garnering attention as an ascending threat in the 125-pound weight class.
Flyweight is going to continue being at the fore over the next couple months, and the outcome of this one should have an impact on how the division lines up heading into November and December.
Preliminary Card Contests
Brad Katona vs Jean Matsumoto
The first of the night’s three bantamweight fights closes out the prelims as Brad Katona takes on DWCS grad Jean Matsumoto.
The first two-time winner of The Ultimate Fighter, Katona has continued to struggle with consistency at this level, having split a pair of starts since his UFC 292 banger with Cody Gibson to carry a 4-3 mark inside the Octagon into his third start of 2024. Matsumoto enters with an unblemished 15-0 mark, having followed up his contract-winning effort last September with a second-round submission win over Dan Argueta in his promotional debut.
Joselyne Edwards vs Tamires Vidal
Joselyne Edwards and Tamires Vidal meet in a battle of bantamweights looking to get things moving in the right direction again before the end of the year.
After posting three wins in 10 months between UFC 275 and her split decision nod over Lucie Pudilová in Kansas City last spring, Edwards returns to the UFC APEX on a two-fight slide, having most recently dropped a unanimous decision to Ailin Pérez at UFC 302 in June. Vidal won her debut in impressive fashion, stopping Ramona Pascual with a first-round flying knee in November 2022, but has lost her last two, as well, most recently getting stopped by Melissa Gatto in May.
Jessica Penne vs Elise Reed
Veteran strawweights Jessica Penne and Elise Reed share the Octagon on Saturday as each makes their return following a lengthy stay on the sidelines.
The 41-year-old Penne fights for the first time since suffering a submission loss to Tabatha Ricci at UFC 285, looking to score her first win since besting Karolina Kowalkiewicz all the way back at UFC 265. Reed has alternated losses and wins throughout her UFC run, and jumps back into the fray here for the first time since her submission loss to Loopy Godinez at Noche UFC last year.
Melissa Martinez vs Alice Ardelean
Melissa Martinez and Alice Ardelean meet in a battle of strawweight sophomores early in this weekend’s fight card.
Martinez competes for the first time since suffering her first professional loss to Reed at UFC 279 two years ago. Ardelean showed moxie in a short-notice assignment opposite Shauna Bannon at UFC 304 in July which she lost by split decision, ending a six-fight winning streak.
Austen Lane vs Robelis Despaigne
There is a high probability that the day’s action starts with a bang as heavyweight finishers Austen Lane and Robelis Despaigne meet in Saturday’s opener.
The former NFL defensive lineman Lane makes his fourth trip into the Octagon, still searching for his first win after landing on the wrong side of knockout losses in each of his last two outings. Despaigne debuted in March with an 18-second knockout win over Josh Parisian, but was handed his first loss two months later in St. Louis by DWCS alum Waldo Cortes-Acosta.
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