Sean Strickland Knocks Out Anthony Hernandez in Round 3 at UFC Houston, Calls Out Khamzat Chimaev
Sean Strickland returned to the cage and finished Anthony Hernandez with a third-round stoppage at UFC Houston, a victory that immediately put the former titleholder back in the division conversation. The win matters now because it ended Hernandez’s eight-fight win streak and came after Strickland had been out for more than a year.
Sean Strickland stops Anthony Hernandez at Toyota Center
Strickland (30-7) halted Hernandez (15-3, 1 NC) with a flurry of strikes that culminated after a knee to the body opened the sequence, forcing Hernandez to wilt and allowing Strickland to follow with punches until the referee intervened. The official time of the stoppage was 2: 33 of Round 3 at the Toyota Center. It was Strickland’s first stoppage since 2023 and his first fight since an early-February 2025 loss to Dricus du Plessis in a failed bid to regain the middleweight title.
Hernandez’s eight-fight streak and pre-fight expectations
Hernandez entered the matchup on an eight-fight winning streak—the longest run in the division—and was a sizable favorite going into the main event. A win over Strickland had been widely viewed as a likely ticket to a title shot against the champion, a path that now closes for the moment with this loss. The setback also marked Hernandez’s third career defeat by stoppage. There is concern about how Hernandez will recover from a recent injury; details of that injury are unclear in the provided context.
Uros Medic finishes Geoff Neal in co-main
In the co-main, Uros Medic (13-3) delivered a 79-second knockout of Geoff Neal (16-8) with a left hook to the temple that rendered Neal unconscious in the opening round. The stoppage reinforced Medic’s reputation as a fast-finishing fighter; he has only fought past the second round once in his career. For Neal, the defeat was his second consecutive loss inside the promotion and his fourth loss in his past five bouts. Neal had been coming off a potentially career-changing knockout loss to Carlos Prates before facing Medic.
Melquizael Costa’s spinning kick extends streak to six
Melquizael Costa (25-7) continued his ascent at featherweight by scoring a spinning back kick to the face of Dan Ige (19-10) late in the first round, adding to his momentum and extending his win streak to six. Costa’s finish was one of several spectacular endings on the card that delivered decisive outcomes inside the distance.
Bonuses and the broader card schedule
Performance bonuses of $100, 000 were awarded to Sean Strickland, Uros Medic, Melquizael Costa and Jacobe Smith. The event took place on Saturday, Feb. 21, with an eight-fight early preliminary card beginning at 5 p. m. ET and a six-fight main card starting at 8 p. m. ET; the entire event streamed on Paramount+. The night’s results altered the immediate pecking order at middleweight and reshaped short-term matchmaking considerations.
Strickland’s path to this night had been defined by high stakes: three of his past four fights had championship gold on the line, and he has lost twice to Dricus du Plessis while also producing notable wins such as an upset of Israel Adesanya and a decisive win over Paulo Costa. Despite public comments widely described as pervasively disgusting, ignorant and dull, he has remained a favored figure among UFC matchmakers and retains a following that still views him as a title-caliber contender.
What makes this notable is that Strickland produced a clear finishing sequence after more than a year out of competition, a result that immediately allowed him to call out reigning UFC middleweight champion Khamzat Chimaev in the post-fight interview and declare he "wants a piece" of the division’s undefeated king. Cause and effect were direct on the night: Strickland’s consistent jab and pressure led to a body shot sequence that opened Hernandez up, and that opening produced the flurry of strikes that ended the fight at 2: 33 of Round 3.
The card also underscored stylistic questions at middleweight. Pre-fight analysis had flagged Hernandez as a high-volume grappler with strong cardio who could benefit from a 25-minute fight to wear opponents down; Strickland’s defense and ability to disrupt rhythm proved decisive in this instance. With the decisive finishes and four $100, 000 bonuses handed out, UFC Houston reshuffled contender trajectories and left immediate title implications—especially with Strickland publicly targeting Chimaev—squarely on the table.
