Feb 21, 2026; Houston, Texas, USA; Sean Strickland (crimson gloves) fights Anthony Hernandez (blue gloves) in a middleweight bout throughout UFC Struggle Evening at Toyota Middle. Necessary Credit score: Troy Taormina-Imagn Pictures Former UFC middleweight champion Sean Strickland delivered a knee to the physique adopted by punches to complete Anthony Hernandez with a TKO victory at 2:23 of the third spherical in the primary occasion of Saturday’s UFC Struggle Evening occasion in Houston.
After a slow-paced begin, Strickland picked up the tempo on the midway level of the battle as Hernandez retreated. The win was the primary for Strickland (30-7 MMA, 17-7 UFC) since June 2024, whereas Hernandez (15-3 MMA, 9-3 UFC) had his eight-fight win streak snapped, taking his first defeat since Could 2020.
Strickland gave props to Hernandez following the battle after some harsh phrases had been exchanged main as much as it.
“Fluffy’s the person I wish to be,” Strickland stated.
Hernandez saved it easy.
“I assumed it was 1-1 (going into Spherical 3),” Hernandez stated. “Time to get again to work.”
Within the co-headliner, Serbian welterweight Uros Medic wanted simply 79 seconds to ship a left hook which completed Geoff Neal for an opening-round KO/TKO. Medic (13-3 MMA, 7-3 UFC) has gained three in a row, whereas Neal (16-8 MMA, 8-6 UFC) has misplaced back-to-back fights.
Featherweight Melquizael Cosa of Brazil delivered the sixth spinning again kick KO/TKO (to the pinnacle) in UFC historical past, ending Dan Ige at 4:56 of the opening spherical. The sixth straight win for Costa (20-7 MMA, 7-2 UFC) was additionally the primary KO lack of Ige’s (19-11 MMA, 11-10 UFC) profession.
Moldovan heavyweight Serghei Spivac outlasted Croatia’s Ante Delija by unanimous resolution (30-27, 29-28, 29-28) to snap a two-fight shedding skid. It was Spivac’s (18-6 MMA, 9-6 UFC) first win since August 2024, whereas Delija (26-8 MMA, 1-2 UFC) has misplaced back-to-back fights since profitable his UFC debut final September.
In a battle of unbeaten welterweights, Jacobe Smith (12-0 MMA) made fast work of UFC debutant Josiah Harrell (11-1 MMA, 0-1 UFC), needing simply 3:01 to safe the first-round TKO stoppage. Smith has completed 10 of his 12 MMA fights to this point, enhancing to 3-0 within the UFC with his ninth profession KO/TKO victory.
The UFC Houston foremost card obtained underway with an action-packed middleweight battle between Brazil’s Michel Pereira and Zach Reese. Pereira (32-14 MMA, 10-5 UFC) earned a split-decision win (29-28, 28-29, 29-28) to snap a three-fight shedding streak. Reese (10-3 MMA, 4-3 UFC) had gained two of his final three fights getting into Saturday evening.
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