UFC Fight Night: Strickland vs. Hernandez Predictions

UFC Fight Night 267: Strickland vs. Hernandez takes place on Sunday (AEDT) at the Toyota Center in Seattle, Washington, United States. – and we’ve got our UFC predictions for all the fights below, and you can place your bets with the best betting sites Australia has to offer!

UFC Fight Night 267 Predictions

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Sean Strickland vs. Anthony Hernandez Prediction

Former 185lb champion Sean Strickland’s two losses in his last three fights came in title bouts against Dricus du Plessis, and now he moves on to fight the in-form Anthony ‘Fluffy’ Hernandez, who is on an eight-fight winning run.

Strickland continues to show little interest in adapting his stripped back, minimalist style of fighting that’s got him this far in his career. He largely just focuses on applying pressure behind his assured, accurate jab and distance-keeping teep kicks while using his dependable cardio to gradually chip away at his opponents over time rather than deliver a fast finish. Meanwhile, the 34-year-old’s toughness and unorthodox but well-versed ‘Philly shell’ style defense often leads his foes to become frustrated and discouraged, while his solid takedown defense keeps the fight where he wants it. Strickland also has respectable wrestling, but his knees have seen better days, so its not something he reaches for often. It’s not a flashy skill-set, and his unwillingness to switch things up is a weak point, but it’s still been effective enough to briefly hold the belt just a couple of years ago and claim wins over the likes of Israel Adesanya, Paulo Costa and Nassourdine Imavov.

Hernandez had an indifferent start to his UFC career with two losses in his first three appearances, but since then he’s been a force of nature in the division, with six of his eight wins coming inside the distance. ‘Fluffy’s pace is absolutely relentless from start to finish wherever the fight goes. On the feet he has a high-volume style to keep his opponent busy, but really he’s always looking to set up takedown attempts and has proven effective with that. And on the mat he’s very difficult to deal with thanks to his extremely tenacious, crafty and high-tempo grappling. He’s a big threat via submissions, but is also just tireless with his positional control and scrambling ability to gradually wear down his opponents..

I think this is a favorable match-up for Hernandez as he doesn’t have to fear Strickland’s cardio or one-punch power, and I think his willingness to just keep working for takedowns and grappling opportunities will pay dividends, though he’ll have to go the full five rounds against the experienced veteran to get his hand raised.

Anthony Hernandez to win by decision

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Geoff Neal vs. Uros Medic Prediction

Geoff Neal suffered a 1st round knockout loss last time out and now looks to recover against Uros Medic, who has won back-to-back fights via strikes in the 1st round.

That spinning elbow KO defeat for Neal last time out wasn’t the only blip on his record lately as he’s actually now lost three of his last four fights. And unfortunately there wasn’t much to be gleaned from his solitary win against Rafael dos Anjos during this slump given that his opponent was taken out by a freak knee injury 90 seconds into the fight. So the 35-year-old Neal has work to do to dig himself out of this hole, and on the positive side he does have the weaponry to do that on the feet as he’s one of the division’s heaviest hitters with big one-punch knockout power and dangerous head kicks too. On the downside though he’s not the most technically polished operator and he is quite hittable. However, Neal can also work from the clinch and has good takedown defense, and though he’s not one to look for takedowns often, he does have heavy ground-and-pound.

The 32-year-old Medic is an aggressive striker who goes all out for the finish, and has actually still never been to the scorecards in his 12-3 career. He employs a high-volume kickboxing style spiced up by some spinning attacks, but it tends to be his fists that delivers the finish, accounting for 10 of his career wins, spanning across multiple weight classes. Medic does also have a couple of triangle choke submission wins from early in his career too, but his takedown defense is suspect and he’s been submitted twice during his 6-3 run in the UFC, as well as being KO’d once.

There’s a lot of heavy artillery on display here, so anything could happen, but Neal is less reckless, and in the heat of the battle I favor his ‘Hands Of Steel’ to deliver a 1st round TKO finish.

Geoff Neal to win by TKO in Rd1

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Dan Ige vs. Melquizael Costa Prediction

Dan Ige has lost four of his last six fights and now faces Melquizael Costa, who is on a five-fight winning streak.

The 34-year-old Ige’s recent record is more a reflection of the competition he’s been facing than anything else, including losses to the likes of ex-Bellator champ Patricio Pitbull, undefeated UFC contender Lerone Murphy and an ultra-short-notice fight up a weight class against Diego Lopes. While he has had some big wins over the course of his 11-9 UFC run, more often than not Ige has tended to come up short against top-talents, but he’s still never been finished in his career. Ige remains a compact, gritty boxer with respectable power who does his best work at close quarters, applying pressure and rifling off nice combos to the head and body, while he can mix in some takedowns too.

The 29-year-old Costa has been in fine form over the past couple of years. On the feet he’ll apply pressure and has a good kicking game that delivered a KO finish last time out, the 8th stoppage of his career from strikes. He can be a bit reckless though and has been stopped twice via T(KO), but generally he’s shown a good ability to battle back from adversity in his fights. Costa is also a decent wrestler and has good offensive grappling that’s helped add another 8 finishes to his record, but he’s less convincing defensively and so has been finished on the mat a couple of times.

This is an interesting one as both fighters will be happy to throw down, and while Costa is clearly the one riding a wave of momentum, Ige has traditionally had the better durability of the two and has been consistently fighting a higher level of competition. As such I’ll take the veteran to win the battle of the chins here to emerge with a 3rd round TKO victory.

Dan Ige to win by TKO in Rd3

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Serghei Spivac vs. Ante Delija Prediction

Serghei Spivac comes in off back-to-back defeats last year to take on Ante Delija, who was KO’d in the first round of his last bout in November.

At 31-years-old, Spivac currently holds an 8-6 record in the Octagon. Along the way he’s beaten some heavyweight notables like Derrick Lewis, Marcin Tybura and Tai Tuivasa, but more often than not he’s come off second-best against fighter above the middle of the pack like Tom Aspinall, Ciryl Gane and most recently Waldo Cortes-Acosta. Spivac isn’t particularly big for the division and tends to do his best work on the mat with solid wrestling and ground-and-pound, together with good grappling that makes him a significant threat via submissions. Meanwhile his striking has improved a little over time, but he’s still a bit rough-and-ready and suffers from a lack of athleticism, while he also doesn’t have the best chin, with four of his losses in the UFC coming via TKO.

The 35-year-old Delija initially made his name in the PFL promotion, reaching the final of their 2021 heavyweight tournament before going on to win the 2022 version. He arrived in the UFC last year with a 25-6 record and went on to KO Marcin Tybura in his promotional debut, but was then stopped in under a round by Waldo Cortes-Acosta late last year. On the feet Delija sticks largely to the fundamentals and fights at a measured pace, but has respectable power. He benefits from having a well-rounded skill-set, which enables him to blend in capable wrestling and solid ground-and-pound, but though he does also have six submission wins on his record, the last of those was over a decade ago.

Spivac does best when he can get the fight to the mat, but I think Delija is well-rounded enough to make that a significant challenge, and as the more effective, harder-hitting and quicker striker he’ll be able to force a striking battle that leads him to a 2nd round TKO finish.

Ante Delija to win by TKO in Rd2

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Jacobe Smith vs. Josiah Harrell Prediction

Jacobe Smith and the debuting Josiah Harrell will both be putting their perfect 11-0 records on the line when they clash on the main card.

The 30-year-old Smith is a highly regarded prospect who joined from the Contender Series in 2024 and has so far picked up a submission win over Preston Parsons followed by a TKO finish of Niko Price. Smith is a fast, explosive athlete and has a decorated background in wrestling that’s evident in his slick, powerful takedowns and good control on top. He also has some very heavy ground-and-pound and he likes to throw power shots on the feet too. It’s a style that has paid off for him so far with eight of his 11 wins coming via strikes, while he also notched up a submission win over veteran Niko Price last time out. However, there have been signs of cardio issues, and that’s something he’ll have to address as his competition level rises in the Octagon.

The 27-year-old Harrell will be making his UFC debut on just a weeks notice after compiling a solid unbeaten run on the regional scene over the past six years. It’ll actually be Harrell’s 2nd opportunity to step into the Octagon though as he was supposed to fight Jack Della Maddalena back in 2023, before being withdrawn due to being diagnosed with a rare brain disease. Thankfully a couple of years later he was able to resume his fighting career and he’s actually only a month removed from a TKO victory in the LFA promotion. Harrell will be at a 3″ height and 4″ reach disadvantage here, but he’s strong, is a good athlete and has a solid wrestling game, as well as posing a submission threat too. And it’s a skill-set that’s so far led to all but one of his 11 wins coming inside the distance.

There’s levels to this game and I expect Smith’s wrestling ability to be too much for Harrell to deal with here, and with his hard-hitting ground-and-pound I could see that leading to a 2nd round TKO finish.

Jacobe Smith to win by TKO in Rd2

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Zachary Reese vs. Michel Pereira Prediction

Zachary Reese comes in off a submission win in November to fight Michel Pereira, who is on a three-fight losing slump.

Reese joined from the Contender Series back in 2023 and has gone 4-2 (+1nc) since then. Now 31-years-old, Reese is a tall middleweight who will have a 2″ height and 4″ reach advantage over Pereira, and likes to use that to strike from range with kicks and accurate punches down the pipe. Meanwhile, he’s also willing to go for takedowns and hunt for submissions on the mat. He has a good finishing rate, with 5 wins via strikes and 3 via submission from 10 career victories, and with most coming inside the first round. However, both of his UFC losses came via KO and he doesn’t have the best takedown defense.

Only a couple of years ago the 32-year-old Pereira was on an impressive 8-fight winning streak, starting first at welterweight and then on to middleweight. He received a lot of plaudits for that run of form given that when he first arrived in the UFC he was better known as an exciting, but flawed striking wizard who would throw all kinds of acrobatic and exotic techniques at his opponents, only to then completely run out of steam if he didn’t find a finish. To his credit though, Pereira was able to reinvent himself, reigning in his reckless instincts while managing his cardio better and even showing a surprisingly capable wrestling game. However, he seems to have lost some of his spark now after three defeats in a row, and the fact that two of them have come via TKO is concerning.

It’s hard to feel confident picking Pereira here given his recent performances, but I’ll give him the benefit of the doubt here as he is the superior striker here. As such I’ll take him to win by TKO in the 2nd round.

Michel Pereira to win by TKO in Rd2

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UFC Fight Night 267 Prelims

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(Predicted winners in bold)

Chidi Njokuani vs. Carlos Leal Miranda
Ode’ Osbourne vs. Alibi Idiris
Alden Coria vs. Luis Gurule
Nora Cornolle vs. Joselyne Edwards
Ramiz Brahimaj vs. Punahele Soriano
Philip Rowe vs. Jean-Paul Lebosnoyani
Jordan Leavitt vs. Yadier del Valle
Juliana Miller vs. Carli Judice

MMA Writer

Ross Cole

Ross Cole is one of the most prolific mixed martial arts writers in the world.

Having written more than 22,000 MMA news stories for MMA Insight, which he founded in 2009 as a way to channel his passion for the sport of mixed martial arts.

Few people know the UFC and the sport of MMA like Ross, and he has built a solid reputation for being one of the best MMA tipsters in the world.

You can read more of Ross's work at MMAInsight.com.