Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) Middleweight talents Anthony Hernandez and Roman Kopylov will go to war this weekend (Sat., Feb. 17, 2024) at UFC 298 inside Honda Center in Anaheim, California.
Riding a four-fight win streak dating back to 2021, Hernandez earned a place in the Top 15 violently. He’s named Cain Velasquez as an inspiration, and “Fluffy” fights like it, putting his opponents through a meat grinder of constant pressure, takedowns, and offense from top position. Kopylov started his UFC career with a couple uninspired losses, but his own technical turnaround has been considerable! Since those defeats, he’s also won four straight fights, finishing each opponent via knockout.
Let’s take a closer look at the keys to victory for each man:
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Anthony Hernandez
Record: 11-2 (1)
Key Wins: Edmen Shahbazyan (UFC Vegas 73), Rodolfo Vieira (UFC 258), Brendan Allen (LFA 32), Jun Yong Park (UFC Fight Night 157)
Key Losses: Kevin Holland (UFC on ESPN 8), Markus Perez (UFC Fight Night 144)
Keys to Victory: Hernandez is a grinder with a complete game. By that, I don’t simply mean he’s well-rounded: Hernandez’s striking is built to set up his takedowns, his takedowns flow direction into his submissions, and all his grappling circles back into nasty strikes on the break or from top position.
All the while, those skills are applied at a breakneck pace.
Very few Middleweights are going to want to strike with Kopylov, and that includes Hernandez. In this match up, his combination punching is a means to an end, a path to get to the takedown. Per usual, Hernandez should be sprinting from the first bell, intent on closing distance.
Pocket combinations leads to clinch work, where Hernandez has proven himself gifted at close range striking and takedown chaining both. Keeping his hands on Kopylov doesn’t entirely take Hernandez out of danger, but it does mitigate his kicking ability at least.
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Roman Kopylov
Record: 12-2
Key Wins: Punahele Soriano (UFC Vegas 67), Alessio Di Chirico (UFC Paris), Claudio Ribeiro (UFC 291)
Key Losses: Albert Duraev (UFC 267), Karl Roberson (UFC Moscow)
Keys to Victory: Kopylov is a nasty Southpaw kickboxer. Since he’s shored up the holes in his defensive wrestling, he’s been able to show off his nasty counter punching and ability to build combinations with good consistency.
Distance is key here. Hernandez does really good work in forcing his style of grueling fight, and that’s a style that has troubled Kopylov in the past. The first step to preventing Hernandez from getting his game going is to keep his feet moving and change directions — make Hernandez reach for him.
Another helpful focus here will be countering in the clinch when Hernandez does get close. “Fluffy” pushes forward hard, which amplifies the power of any intercepting shots like a knee or uppercut. If Hernandez scores the clinch, eats a shot, then is shoved away back to distance, that’s an ideal exchange for the Russian.
At distance, Kopylov should be firing power kicks towards the liver whenever possible. That blow floored Hernandez in his first UFC loss, and Kopylov has the accurate and powerful left leg one would expect of a Southpaw striking ace.
Bottom Line
This is a great style clash between up-and-coming Middleweights.
Though Hernandez is the ranked man here, the two enter in similar positions, seeing as both are making their pay-per-view (PPV) debuts while riding four-fight win streaks. They both carry momentum into the fight, and the styles line up so that a finish or at least exciting scrap feels fairly guaranteed. As such, the victor should expect a Top 10 opponent next.
Both of these men are young in their MMA careers. Hernandez is 30 years of age, while Kopylov is 32. There is time for a rebound, so while the defeated man does cough up a nice opportunity, the situation isn’t yet desperate for their title dreams.
At UFC 298, Anthony Hernandez and Roman Kopylov will open the main card. Which man earns the victory?