Alexander Hernandez Is Finally Comfortable

In sports, broadly speaking, you’re not supposed to admit weakness, show anything other than supreme confidence, and that feels extra baked-in when it comes to combat sports.

We all know it’s not true, but listening to someone express that they had been riddled with insecurities from the outset of their time in the UFC is both heartening and appreciated.

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Hernandez attributes a great deal of his growth and development in those regards to the crew of people he’s surrounded himself with over the last couple of years, including Brandon Royval, Luis Gurule, and head coach Clay Matza. The team doesn’t have an official name. In fact, whoever is set to compete gets to select how they’ll be identified that through that contest, with Hernandez indicating they settled on “Yes Please” this time around.

Ever-shifting names aside, the outfit has been a revitalizing factor for the tenured lightweight, who is in the midst of the best run of results of his UFC career.

“The team change has been instrumental, and with that, we’ve been approaching the game with the utmost humility and strategy,” explained Hernandez. “I feel like that has been a true gamechanger: having the personalized focus, and then from the top down with Clay Matza as the head, having so much humility in the way we approach, brainstorm, take in information, and never really claiming anything for his own; we’re very much students of the game.

“On the personal side, it’s been a lot of trial by fire and a lot of revelation moments that I’ve had from the (Billy) Quarantillo fight, the (Jim) Miller fight, into the (Austin) Hubbard and the Hooper (fights). I’m really introspective, really reflective and I’ve been able to make some mental adjustments to really register on an extremely visceral level that I’m that guy and I’m gonna show up. I believe it, I know it and it’s not a psychological trick anymore to be that guy. I just am, and I know it.”

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There were a lot of points along the way where Hernandez definitely didn’t have that confidence and trust in himself.

Even though he stormed into the UFC with a short-notice, first-round stoppage win over Beneil Dariush, the Texas-based fighter never felt completely comfortable in the 155-pound weight class. He felt undersized, and reaching the biggest stage in the sport with less than 10 professional fights to his name meant he was short on experience too.

Tabbed by many as ‘The Next Big Thing’ in the division following his debut win and subsequent victory over Olivier Aubin-Mercier, Hernandez was paired with Donald “Cowboy” Cerrone to open his 2019 campaign. After a good start, he was stopped just after the midway point of the second round.

Over the next six years, he’d go 5-6 inside the Octagon, including a venture down to featherweight that ultimately prompted his return to lightweight and sparked the winning streak.

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“When I entered the UFC — and this is where I built a lot of these insecurities around wanting to go to ’45 later on — it’s because I always felt so outsized in the cage,” said Hernandez. “That was the physical side, and mentally, I wasn’t performing and that’s its own discussion… Physically, (facing Renato) Moicano was the last straw, where I was like, ‘This guy looks like my f****** dad in here! He’s got 20 pounds on me. I feel so outsized.’ I felt like an inbetweener, I felt I could (make the cut), and I was willing to try.

“The ’45 cut gave me the confidence as I started to blow back up that ‘No dude, you’re a rightful ’55,’” continued Hernandez. “Really what it was tool was that I took that skid at ’45 and more than anything, I was like, ‘I’m on thin ice and if I’m gonna go out, I might as well go out enjoying this s***!’”

“It’s taking all those pieces and finally putting them together,” Hernandez said. “All those trials, mentally and physically, and believing, surrendering to this outcome and just believing. It’s cool to be on this side, and the thing is too, it could all be gone. I could hit another skid, and it could all be gone.”

As much as was a statement that prompted a laugh, there is freedom in accepting that reality because, when you realize tomorrow isn’t promised, you often want to make the absolute most of the moments you have.

“It’s been a helluva journey, and I’m in a cool place now, and (being here) I really do have a dangerous disregard for the whole game, and with that, I feel like a threat to whoever you put across from me,” he said. “I feel good and there is a lot of security in that.

“I’m having more fun now. I enjoy the training. I enjoy the people I’m around. We went from ‘The Great Ape’ to ‘El Gran Chango’ and I f****** love it; I think ‘Chango’ is hilarious.

“I’m serious and strict with how I work and approach things — I get critical and hard on myself — and if I can break that and have moments of levity, if I can get a groove, those are my best performances, that’s where I do well,” added Hernandez, noting that he’s selected a track with some serious ‘70s funk vibes for his UFC 324 walkout.

What makes his pairing with Johnson next weekend at T-Mobile Arena so compelling is that it comes at a time where “The Menace” is experiencing and feeling a lot of the same things Hernandez has expressed in the preamble to their bout as well.

A 16-year UFC veteran, the 39-year-old has earned three straight victories, one shy of his longest consecutive run of success inside the Octagon, and believes he’s just now found that sweet spot where his skills and experience overlap to make him a serious threat to anyone that stands across from him.

While that had always been the case from a physical standpoint, like Hernandez, the ability to navigate rough waters and avoid costly mistakes wasn’t always there, though it has been remedied over the course of his last few outings.

“Maybe it will be a good get-back for him, maybe not, but I believe it’s mine. I believe in every fiber of my body that it’s mine,” Hernandez said. “Fighting the Ferreiras or the Johnsons as me four or five years ago where I was the inconsistent kid or would have a nasty first half of the fight and then find a way to crumble it — those guys are too dangerous to do that with, but I’m not that f****** guy anymore. I respect and love the nice little tear he’s on, I know he’s a threat, he’s got that it.

“Part of the ‘Ah Ha’ moment I had yesterday was letting go of this overly cautious attitude because of the respect I have for him,” he continued. “F*** that! I’m breaching his shadow with my own confidence, with my own threat, knowing I’m gonna hurt him if he’s in my bubble.

“It’s adjusting my posture to a guy that knows he’s the f***** threat,” added Hernandez. “I know his threats, I know his danger level, and I’m completely prepared mentally for getting lit up, but I am also prepared to step in there and execute and take him out. I think it’s a divine time for me. I think it’s cool for him, I’m glad he’s up, but I think it’s just so I can knock him down. I believe that in my bones.

“F*** me, man — I’m so excited! I don’t discount him at all — I think he’s a f****** problem and a threat; he’s calmer, he’s savvier now, but he’s still Michael Johnson. I still see him. He still does the things he does and I’m prepared for those things… I’m really ready and I’m really excited. I want to make it a fun fight. Hopefully we’ll be able to expose the things we believe we can expose, but if not, I’ll just get a little dirty and handle it all, be persistent.”

Perhaps the biggest sign of Hernandez’s growth and the shifting of his mindset over these last couple years is in the way that he spoke about everything after UFC 324, both in the immediate and long-term sense.

For most athletes, everything is predicated on a victory then moving to the next position on the flowchart they have sketched out in their heads. But Hernandez has reached the point where he has divorced himself from the outcome. He still wants to win, obviously, but recognizes that none of his plans have to change based solely on the result of his clash with Johnson.

“I don’t put outcomes on a pedestal anymore. It’s, ‘Desire nothing,’” he said. “I don’t make assumptions, I don’t hold expectations, I don’t have any desire, outside of the fact that I desire a ‘dub.’ I don’t desire the things around it like applause or money or things like that. I just try to think that ‘No matter what, things are still gonna fall into place, barring injury: I’m still gonna toast with my family, I’m still gonna go to a nice dinner, I’m still gonna enjoy my people, go back to the gym, focus on my guys for February, do the brain recovery that I have planned in March in Salt Lake.’

“I’m gonna plan on staying really diligent and in the work,” he added, shifting his attention to his professional focus for the forthcoming year. “I wanna stay in it, stay healthy and stay as busy as I can because what happens over the next four fights can change the trajectory of everything, and I recognize that. Beating Johnson would be better, but not beating Johnson, I’m still approaching everything the same; if I’m healthy, I can roll right into another fight.

“My goal is to stay on-site and as active as possible; take more short notice, be ready, and try to get another guaranteed three, maybe four. I’m fighting in January, so that’s a good marker, but I need to stay healthy, I need to stay active. I need to stay in the pocket the whole year if I want to achieve what I want to achieve and feel what I wanna feel.”

A steady diet of ‘70s funk walkouts and “El Gran Chango” in the Octagon?

There’s only one thing to say to that: Yes Please.