Anthony “Fluffy” Hernandez says he has been training alongside newly crowned UFC middleweight champion Sean Strickland ahead of his return to the Octagon, months after the two shared the cage.
Hernandez (15-3 MMA, 9-3 UFC) is set to headline UFC Sacramento against Gregory Rodrigues at Golden 1 Center on August 22 and recently appeared on The Ariel Helwani Show, where he discussed how he and Strickland (31-7 MMA, 18-7 UFC) developed a training partnership following their fight earlier this year.
The pair met at UFC Houston in February, when Strickland stopped Hernandez to snap his eight-fight winning streak. The victory propelled Strickland into a middleweight title opportunity, and he captured the championship by defeating Khamzat Chimaev at UFC 328 last month.
Speaking with Ariel Helwani, Hernandez revealed that he and Strickland have been working together in preparation for his upcoming fight.
"No, yeah. He's a cool dude, man. I got nothing bad to say about the guy, man. He's been helping me, I've been training with him. He's gone for two weeks from Vegas right now, and then he'll be back. We're going to get back to work."
Hernandez explained that it was Strickland who first reached out, though the timing initially prevented the two from training together.
"No, he actually hit me up for the Khamzat fight, but I was injured during the time and I couldn't go out and help him. And I was like, 'well, I'll eventually train with you.' I'm going to be in Vegas a lot more for camp this time. We just set it up so we can train."
The 31-year-old also said he plans to spend more time in Las Vegas during this training camp to take advantage of the resources available at the UFC Performance Institute.
"Just to dial some shit in. I'm going to go to the PI and really dial in with the nutritionist, dial in with the strength and conditioning, dial in with some bigger guys, better guys, just to make shit exciting again for myself, you know what I mean."
Hernandez added that he is willing to make whatever sacrifices are necessary in pursuit of a UFC title.
"Yeah, no, for sure. The way I see it, I'm all in this game. Whatever it takes to get me to the fucking title, I'm going to do. If that means moving away from my fucking family for six weeks into camp, then so be it."
Despite suffering a loss to Strickland earlier this year, Hernandez said he was not surprised to see his former opponent defeat Chimaev to become UFC middleweight champion.
"I wasn't surprised at all. That motherfucker's tough as hell, bro. He's a tough son of a bitch."
Hernandez will look to begin another climb toward title contention when he faces Rodrigues in Sacramento, while Strickland is expected to continue his reign atop the UFC's middleweight division after reclaiming the championship with his victory over Chimaev.
