(Photo credit: Troy Taormina-Imagn Images)

Former UFC middleweight champion Sean Strickland delivered a knee to the body followed by punches to finish Anthony Hernandez with a TKO victory at 2:23 of the third round in the main event of Saturday's UFC Fight Night event in Houston.

After a slow-paced start, Strickland picked up the pace at the halfway point of the fight as Hernandez retreated. The win was the first for Strickland (30-7 MMA, 17-7 UFC) since June 2024, while Hernandez (15-3 MMA, 9-3 UFC) had his eight-fight win streak snapped, taking his first defeat since May 2020.

Strickland gave props to Hernandez following the fight after some harsh words were exchanged leading up to it.

'Fluffy's the man I want to be,' Strickland said.

Hernandez kept it simple.

'I thought it was 1-1 (going into Round 3),' Hernandez said. 'Time to get back to work.'

In the co-headliner, Serbian welterweight Uros Medic needed just 79 seconds to deliver a left hook which finished Geoff Neal for an opening-round KO/TKO. Medic (13-3 MMA, 7-3 UFC) has won three in a row, while Neal (16-8 MMA, 8-6 UFC) has lost back-to-back fights.

Featherweight Melquizael Cosa of Brazil delivered the sixth spinning back kick KO/TKO (to the head) in UFC history, finishing Dan Ige at 4:56 of the opening round. The sixth straight win for Costa (20-7 MMA, 7-2 UFC) was also the first KO loss of Ige's (19-11 MMA, 11-10 UFC) career.

Moldovan heavyweight Serghei Spivac outlasted Croatia's Ante Delija by unanimous decision (30-27, 29-28, 29-28) to snap a two-fight losing skid. It was Spivac's (18-6 MMA, 9-6 UFC) first win since August 2024, while Delija (26-8 MMA, 1-2 UFC) has lost back-to-back fights since winning his UFC debut last September.

In a battle of unbeaten welterweights, Jacobe Smith (12-0 MMA) made quick work of UFC debutant Josiah Harrell (11-1 MMA, 0-1 UFC), needing just 3:01 to secure the first-round TKO stoppage. Smith has finished 10 of his 12 MMA fights thus far, improving to 3-0 in the UFC with his ninth career KO/TKO victory.

The UFC Houston main card got underway with an action-packed middleweight fight 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 losing streak. Reese (10-3 MMA, 4-3 UFC) had won two of his last three fights entering Saturday night.

-Field Level Media