Alexander Hernandez: Back and better

It's almost like returning to San Antonio and looking for the UFC's reputation on the regional scene. These days, of course, Hernandez is 13 fights into his UFC career, which began with a 42-second knockout of Beneil Dariush in 2018. But it never hurts to rediscover the fire that lit the whole thing all those years ago.

“There’s a reason you get into it,” he said. “You have to have the creative spirit. You have to love the camaraderie and the learning. You get the physical and mental challenge. It made it interesting again. I had to go away for a minute, come back in, start getting curiosity about it, getting interested in it again, and then start being around people who can develop that curiosity and increase interest, and then you realize that you feel better again. And that's exciting. Once you're feeling better, you'll start having fun. Nobody likes just being stuck in a stale, stagnant space.”

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If we go by results, Hernandez has been in this zone for some time now, as he is just 1-4 in his last five games. One of those losses came to Renato Moicano at 155, while the other three came at featherweight Jackson, Billy Quarantillo and Bill Algeo. The only win in this stretch – a victory over Jim Miller at 155. Add that to his other UFC victories over the likes of Dariush, Mike Breeden, Chris Gruetzemacher, Francisco Trinaldo and Olivier Aubin-Mercier, and it's clear that he's his did his best work in the lightweight class, which he now realizes.

“I kind of look at numbers, I look at things, I think, okay, every best performance I've ever had has been at 155, of course. And generally it's a more short-term call,” he said. “And I feel like the stars are aligned for a game like this. I think it's really great in terms of style, timing and weight. So it's really exciting. And I just focus on that. I really think I could do a great job and have a lot of fun doing it, and then I'll come out of the cage, see how I feel, and then we'll judge the next step.”