UFC Fight Night: Hernandez vs Rodrigues saw contenders emerge, prospects rise, and careers begin as the fight card delivered an action-packed night of fights in Sacramento, California.
After the action had concluded at Golden 1 Center, UFC President and CEO Dana White sat down backstage to answer questions from the assembled media at the UFC Fight Night: Hernandez vs Rodrigues post-fight press conference.
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White was happy to be back in Sacramento, and said the UFC’s return was part of the plan to visit key markets that they had previously been unable to return to due to the COVID pandemic.
“The crowd was literally amazing here tonight. It was absolutely awesome,” he said. “There's a lot of spots that we’ve got to hit. You know, COVID – we're still sort of recovering from that. There's a lot of places we haven't been. Philly was just incredible last weekend, too. We haven't been there in a long time, but yeah, Sacramento's fun, and it's a nice flight for us from Vegas too.”
White later added, “Tonight was incredible. I think that from the minute I walked in, I came in. I got here like the third fight, and I was like, ‘Jesus Christ! It sounds like the main event is going on out there!’ … The crowd was going crazy for the third prelim, and yeah, it just got better as the night went along.”
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There were two notable UFC alums involved in fight night, but they weren’t competing.
Former middleweight Chris Leben and ex-welterweight title challenger Frank Trigg were both in Sacramento, with Leben an appointed judge, while Trigg served as a referee.
White said it was great to see former fighters still involved, using their experience and expertise to help improve the sport.
“It's definitely a good thing for guys to do after they retire,” White suggested. “But that's between them and the athletic commission, you know? But yeah, we'd love to have more fighters, guys who actually know what they're looking at and have experienced it, and understand the game like they do.”
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Local favorite Anthony Hernandez played a starring role in the main event, but the night didn’t go his way as he found himself on the wrong end of the scorecards as he lost out to Gregory Rodrigues.
White paid tribute to Hernandez’s performance, despite the result.
“His leg got busted up. Realistically, most normal guys that fight probably would have been over in the second round,” said White. “But again, I think the crowd was firing him up tonight, and he showed a ton of heart, and this is one of those fights, especially in your home state, your hometown, you gain so much respect. You didn't win the fight, but you gained a lot of respect.”
With so many big performances in Sacramento, White admitted it was particularly difficult to pick the night’s bonus winners, with the main event between Hernandez and Rodrigues earning Fight of the Night, while MarQuel Mederos and Carli Judice both earned Performance of the Night honors.
“Tonight sucked for picking bonuses, you know what I mean? It was a brutal night,” he said. “If you got a finish, you're going to win some money. But the ‘bonus’ bonuses, yeah, it's tough to not give some of these other kids that had great performances the money… It's the toughest part of the job when you have a night like tonight. [Stanley Dorsainvil] was selling drills a week ago. You know what I mean?”
Saturday night’s event was the seventh UFC event held in Sac-Town, and it got White thinking back to earlier in his time at the UFC, when scouting fighters meant a lot more miles traveled, and a lot more boots on the ground. For White and his team at the time, California was the perfect hunting ground for new talent, as he explained.
“When we first bought this company, there was no streaming or any of that s***,” he said. “If I didn't fly to the fight live and watch it, then somebody had to tape it and send us a cassette tape. Joe Silva, our old matchmaker, his whole office, all the walls, were all cassette tapes of fights… So, pretty much every weekend, I flew to Southern California, Northern California, and Hawaii, every weekend to watch fights when we first bought the company. So this place has always been a hotbed for MMA, and it obviously still is.”
Former New York Jets linebacker Anthony Wint completed a remarkable 11 days as he made his UFC debut, hot on the heels of his contract-winning performance in Week 1 of Dana White’s Contender Series on August 11.
"Eleven days. I love it,” said White. “If you look at what the Contender Series has done for the UFC and for the business, and when you have these guys who come in and make a big impact, and then want to turn right around and fight? … Look at Khamzat Chimaev on Fight Island. He's like, ‘I want to fight again next weekend.’ You tell me you want to fight again next weekend, you're fighting next weekend. I love it, and it's the right thing to do.
“First of all, if you're a fighter, more people know who you are. Your name gets out there faster. More people are talking about you on Sunday and Monday, and you make more money. I mean, it's just a no-brainer. I'd love to see more guys do it.”
With the likes of Wint and, further up the ladder, Vitor Petrino enjoying big wins in the heavyweight division, the heavyweight division is one example of the next generation working its way through a weight class.
White said that his matchmaking team has been working hard on regenerating key weight classes to keep things fresh moving forward.
“We got a lot of divisions that are shaking up right now and getting fun,” he said. “The boys have been working hard on a few of the different divisions that we thought were a little… stale, I'll say.”
UFC Fight Night: Hernandez vs Rodrigues took place live from Golden 1 Center in Sacramento, California on August 22, 2026. See the final Prelim & Main Card Results, Official Scorecards and Who Won Bonuses - and relive the action on UFC FIGHT PASS!
