Alexander Hernandez is not happy with his spot on the UFC 271 card.
Alexander Hernandez is currently 5-3 on his UFC journey. The 29-year-old lightweight KO’d Mike Breeden in his last Octagon appearance, on the main card of UFC Vegas 38 last October.
This weekend, at UFC 271, Hernandez meets Renato Moicano. That fight takes place on the early prelim portion of the card. And it’s safe to say Hernandez is not thrilled with working the UFC’s early shift.
“Man, I’m fired the fuck up because of the amount of disrespect that the UFC is showing me on this card,” Hernandez told MMA Fighting’s We Got Next podcast. “We have to wait four months and then I’m on the early fucking prelims. I mean, that incites such a rage in me so I’m coming to make a statement. I’m so fired up about that. I’m so pissed off and I’m so motivated, so I’m really eager to make a statement.”
Hernandez is especially incensed about this decision due to where the event is taking place; Houston, TX, close to his home of San Antonio.
“I’m in my state, I’m practically in my city, the only other guy [from] there [fighting outside of the early prelims] is Derrick Lewis — and rightfully so, he’s the co-main, But how the fuck did I get on the early, early prelims? It’s not even the prelims. Not on the main card, not on the [ESPN] prelims, it’s my peers that are barely above me, or people that are statistically below that are above me [on the card]. I’m frustrated, plus we’re in Texas.
“I’m gonna go out there, please the 15 people in the audience, get my 20-30 homies hyped. I’m gonna take out Moicano and make a statement and let them know that not to discredit, or disrespect me like that again. I’m so fired up about it.”
Hernandez wowed in his UFC debut in 2018, coming in on short notice and knocking out Beneil Dariush in just 42 seconds. That emphatic win earned him a Performance of the Night bonus. He followed that up with a unanimous decision win over Olivier Aubin-Mercier.
Those wins earned Hernandez a date with Donald Cerrone in 2019. However, the fight would not go his way. He lost that bout by TKO in the second round (the first stoppage loss of his career).
Hernandez has been back and forth between the win and loss column ever since. He’s picked up wins over Francisco Trinaldo and Chris Gruetzemacher over that period and lost to Drew Dober and Thiago Moises.
UFC 271 is headlined by Israel Adesanya vs. Robert Whittaker 2 for the UFC middleweight title. The early prelim portion of the card begins at 6PM ET. Along with Hernandez vs. Moicano, the early prelims include Jeremiah Wells vs. Blood Diamond and Douglas Silva de Andrade vs. Sergey Morozov.