UFC Fight Night: Pereira vs. Hernandez Preview
This Saturday, from Las Vegas, NV, at the UFC Apex, we will have UFC Fight Night. It will feature 11 fights inside the Octagon. The first fight bell time is scheduled for 4:00 PM Eastern Time and can be seen on ESPN+.
Main Event – Michel Pereira vs. Anthony Hernandez
The main event at UFC Fight Night will come to us from the middleweight division as Anthony Hernandez squares off with Michel Pereira. This fight is scheduled for 5/5 minute rounds, with the winner potentially earning a shot at middleweight gold.
This is about a grappler versus a striker. Hernandez doesn’t hide that he likes to grapple, and eight of his 12 career wins came by submission. Hernandez has a record of 12 – 2 and is on a 5-fight win streak.
We last saw him inside the Octagon on February 17th, 2024, when he submitted Roman Kopylov by rear naked choke in the second round at UFC 298. He continues to move up the rankings and now moves up in competition as he faces one of the most ferocious strikers in the middleweight division, Pereira.
Pereira enters this fight on an 8-fight win streak and a record of 31 – 11. The Rio de Janeiro, Brazil product has an outstanding record in the UFC of 9 – 2, and since moving to the middleweight division, he’s been unstoppable.
We last saw him on May 4th, 2024, at UFC 301, when he scored a first-round submission by standing guillotine choke over Ihop Potieria. Overall, he is dangerous everywhere the fight will go. Of his 31 wins, he has eleven wins by knockout, eight by submission, and eleven by decision.
He is tough to finish as he has only been knocked out once and lost by submission once. Seven of his 9 losses have come by way of a decision.
Co-Main Event – Rob Font vs. Kyler Phillips
Rob Font will fight Kyler Phillips in the bantamweight division in the co-main event.
Rob Font is on a two-fight losing streak, losing to Corey Sandhagen and Davison Figuero. Overall, he has lost four out of his last five fights, and at 37 years of age, we have to ask ourselves: Has Font finally faced Father Time?
Font is a dominant striker with great boxing skills. He has nine wins by knockout, four wins by submission, and seven by decision. He’s only been finished once in his career, and that was by submission at UFC Fight Night 119 in 2017 against Pedro Munoz.
His opponent,, Kyler Phillips, enters the Octagon on a three-fight win streak. He comes to us from the MMA lab and has a record of 12 – 2. Phillips is a well-rounded fighter, having five wins by knockout, two wins by submission, and five wins by decision. His record in the UFC is 6 – 1.
Knowing he’s on a three-fight win streak and his record in the UFC, the win here over FontFont could lead Phillips to a contender fight very soon.
Spooky Express Fight Night Free Play
Before we get to our free play, let’s talk about how hot we’ve been in mixed martial arts premium plays for the month of October. We have gone 7 – 1 and are over plus 13 units on the month in MMA. Sign up for the spooky express premium plays today, and you not only get all of our MMA plays for UFC Fight Night on Saturday, but you get them for 30 days, including all of our NFL college football action, Major League Baseball action hockey, and much more. Sign up now by clicking on this link.
Our free play from this fight card is going to be on Charles Johnson. Now listen closely, Johnson right now is sitting at -200 at BetOnline. Our suggestion is to wait until after the weigh-ins to see if that line comes down a little bit. Johnson is riding a three-fight win streak two of those fights in which he earned performance bonuses. See if you can get that -200 down a bit by either playing Johnson on a prop or you could take the risk like we will and just play the play at -200.