UFC continues its run at UFC APEX with an exciting middleweight matchup between two surging contenders as No. 13 ranked Anthony Hernandez takes on No. 14 Michel Pereira. Also on the card, No. 7 ranked flyweight contender Matheus Nicolau aims to defend his spot in the Top 10 against No. 14 Asu Almabayev. UFC FIGHT NIGHT: HERNANDEZ vs PEREIRA takes place Saturday, October 19 in Las Vegas, Nevada. The entire event will stream on ESPN+ (English and Spanish) starting with the prelims at 4pm ET/1pm PT, followed by the main card at 7pm ET/4pm PT.

Anthony Hernandez and Michel Pereira share the main event spotlight in this captivating battle between two of the hottest middleweights in the UFC at the moment. Hernandez lands his first main event assignment a day after his 31st birthday, carrying a five-fight winning streak into Saturday’s clash with Pereira. A member of the Dana White’s Contender Series (DWCS) Class of ’18, the Northern California-based standout has collected three straight stoppages during the course of his current run of success, most recently dominating and submitting Roman Kopylov at UFC 298 in February.

Pereira has collected three straight stoppage wins since moving up to the middleweight division, needing less time to finish his work in each successive outing. The 31-year-old Brazilian has won eight straight overall and nine of his 11 starts inside the Octagon, establishing himself as a perpetually entertaining, ever-dangerous threat. There has been a great deal of change in the middleweight division over the last couple years and these two are part of the group making a serious push forward. Hernandez has clearly done away with the inconsistency that plagued his early days in the promotion, while Pereira’s dialing back the crazy has helped him perform at his absolute best as of late, setting up this pivotal matchup that will determine which of these two takes a big step forward heading into 2025.

Saturday’s co-main event sees Rob Font face off with Kyler Phillips in what has the potential to be a changing of the guard moment in the bantamweight ranks. Despite dealing with a slew of injury withdrawals for the past few years, Hernandez has established himself as a real force at 185 pounds. Whereas Pereira, who is riding the momentum of a 7-fight winning streak, has looked to be in top form since moving up from welterweight. Although the stylistic dynamic slightly favors Hernandez’s relentless wrestling attacks (especially inside the smaller octagon of the Apex), Pereira will be incredibly dangerous early. Aside from the fact that Pereira carries knockout power in his hands, the Brazilian is also good about going to the body – which appears to be kryptonite to Hernandez. That said, we still haven’t seen Pereira’s suspect gas tank tested in some time, so I’m curious how “Demolidor” will deal with Hernandez’s Dagestani spin cycle of positional rides and attacks on the floor. A Pereira win wouldn’t shock me, but I’ll officially side with Hernandez to survive the initial storms and pull away down the stretch for a submission win in Round 3.