Fighters On The Rise | UFC Seattle

A member of the second graduating class from the wildly successful summer-fall series, Hernandez heads into his co-main event rematch with Brendan Allen this weekend riding a six-fight winning streak and coming off his first main event win.

The 31-year-old middleweight, who defeated Allen on the regional scene in 2018, actually stumbled out of the gates at the outset of his UFC career, losing his debut to Markus Perez and getting stopped by Kevin Holland in 39 seconds in his third appearance, with a submission win over Junyong Park sandwiched in between. But a second-round submission win over world champion jiu jitsu player Rodolfo Vieira at UFC 258 got things moving in the right direction and “Fluffy” hasn’t looked back since, following that victory up with a win on the cards over Josh Fremd before rattling off finishes in each of his last four appearances.

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Conditioning and pace are two of Hernandez’ biggest weapons, as the Northern California native is indefatigable and resilient, using those two elements to wear on opponents and create opportunities to look for and usually find finishes. Don’t get me wrong, his offensive weapons are excellent as well — his hands are quick and crisp, his grappling and submission game are top notch — but everything flows from his ability to constantly stay in the opposition’s face and  make them work at a clip that they cannot maintain.

It’s why so many of his finishes come in the second, third, or even fifth round, as it did last time out against Michel Pereira. Hernandez exhausts you and then puts you away, rather than trying to put you away when you’re still relatively fresh, and his approach has worked extremely well over the last four years.

Saturday’s matchup with Allen will be another test of his talents and conditioning, as it represents a step up in competition in terms of the rankings and the level of competition each man has been facing as of late. The Louisiana native enters off a unanimous decision loss to Nassourdine Imavov, who has since gone on to cement his standing as a championship contender, but he had won seven straight prior to that, earning finishes in five of those contests to land himself in the Top 10 in the middleweight division.

Skill-wise, Allen is an outstanding foil to Hernandez and the right level of opponent for him to be facing at this stage in his progression up the ranks. He’s been in there with slightly better competition and had a great deal of success, and should serve as a tremendous measuring stick to further gauge where Hernandez stands in the division.

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Should he go out and push his winning streak to seven, another step up in competition and potentially a second main event assignment could follow, especially given the ongoing shifts in the 185-pound ranks at the moment. This is a tremendous opportunity for the talented DWCS alum and it will be interesting to see if he can keep rising to the occasion.

Jean Silva

In any year other than last year, Jean Silva would have taken top spot in the year-end salute to UFC newcomers, but between his teammate Carlos Prates and two-time Olympic gold medalist Kayla Harrison, the explosive Fighting Nerds representative had to instead settle for bronze.

A member of the DWCS Class of ’23, Silva kicked off his rookie campaign in the Octagon with a first-round drubbing of Westin Wilson, rolling through the South Carolina native with little resistance on the opening card of the year. He followed that up with a statement-making stoppage win over Charles Jourdain at UFC 303, stopping the French-Canadian veteran in the second round; the only demerit being that he missed weight for the contest.

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Two weeks later, Silva turned up in Denver, up a division, and earned a third-round stoppage win over Drew Dober that served as a real “put everyone on notice” moment, as he was the sharper and more effective of the two throughout, despite making the quick turnaround and fighting at altitude against the Denver-based veteran.

Now he makes his first appearance since that lights out performance in July, stepping in with Melsik Baghdasaryan in a battle of DWCS alums angling to continue their push towards the Top 15 in the featherweight division.

Like many of his Fighting Nerds teammates, Silva is a pressure fighter with keen finishing instincts, brandishing very good power for the division and the kind of ferocity — and quite frankly meanness — that can be a difference-maker when trying to forge ahead in a deep and talented group. He’s finished all but one of his 14 career wins and has only lost on the scorecards, which feels like a simple, but effective, encapsulation of what makes him dangerous.

Baghdasaryan has been limited to just four appearances since earning a contract with a unanimous decision win over Dennis Buzukja on Season 4 of Dana White’s Contender Series, posting a 3-1 record. A standout kickboxer before transitioning to mixed martial arts, the 33-year-old has been plagued by injuries and opponent withdrawals throughout his UFC tenure, having had six bouts fall apart for one reason or another, resulting in long stretches spent on the sidelines.

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While this pairing may have caught some people off guard given the tremendous success Silva had in 2024 and the bright spotlight currently shining down on his team as a whole, it feels like the kind of pairing designed to make sure the 28-year-old Brazilian doesn’t get too far ahead of himself just yet. Baghdasaryan isn’t someone you can look past, and Silva will need to be at his best in order to extend his overall winning streak to a dozen consecutive fights on Saturday.

If he does so — and especially if he does so in impressive fashion — a date with a Top 15 opponent could be on the horizon for the humble, mild-mannered Brazilian who turns into an absolute monster once the Octagon door closes.

Mansur Abdul-Malik

Mansur Abdul-Malik arrives in Seattle positioned like a September call-up in baseball that absolutely raked in the final month of the season, filling everyone with a great deal of anticipation heading into his first full season on the UFC roster.

The unbeaten middleweight earned a contract in the opening week of the Contender Series last season, finishing Wes Schultz in the second round under a storm of ground-and-pound. He then made a relatively hasty return to action, jumping back into the Octagon three months later for his UFC debut, where he promptly pounded out a first-round stoppage win over Dusko Todorovic to advance to 7-0 overall and get everyone buzzing about his upside in the 185-pound ranks.

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Fighting out of Xtreme Couture in Las Vegas, the 27-year-old Maryland native is undeniably talented, boasting the kind of athleticism and frame that instantly makes you a person of interest in this sport. What’s going to be key — and why Abdul-Malik is someone to watch long term — is how he continues to build on that foundation, adding weapons to his arsenal and honing his craft as he gains further experience.

There are no guarantees ever in this sport and there will most likely be stumbles along the way, but the unbeaten middleweight prospect currently profiles as someone that could eventually develop into a dangerous threat in the division.

His second opportunity to put his raw talents and limitless upside on display comes this weekend in Seattle, where he’ll face off with fellow Class of ’24 alum Nick Klein, who closed out last season with a first-round submission win over Heraldo Souza in 37 seconds. The Pura Vida BJJ/MMA representative tags in for Antonio Trocoli, who was forced to withdraw for undisclosed reasons.

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This is the right kind of matchup for Abdul-Malik at this stage of his development — a pairing against another hopeful with a similar level of experience, and one who has already shown an ability to go out and surprise people. There are a ton of middleweights and big bodies in the room at Xtreme Couture for Abdul-Malik to work with on a daily basis, and he’s sure to be getting outstanding coaching, which is why so many people — myself included — will be paying close attention to his sophomore outing in Seattle.