UFC Sacramento ended with Gregory Rodrigues defeating Anthony Hernandez by unanimous decision, but the five-round main event was only one part of a finish-heavy night at Golden 1 Center. Ten of the 13 fights ended before the final horn, including six finishes on the seven-bout preliminary card and four more on the main card. Rodrigues earned scores of 48-47, 49-46 and 48-47 after surviving Hernandez’s strongest stretch and reasserting himself late.
The main event supplied the card’s longest contest and its most demanding momentum swing. Rodrigues hurt Hernandez with heavy punches and repeated kicks to the lead leg in the second round, only for the Sacramento-area favorite to stay in the fight and take control in the third. Hernandez increased his pressure and finally found sustained grappling success, but Rodrigues answered in the fourth by moving forward, defending takedowns and returning to the more damaging offense. Hernandez kept attacking through the fifth, yet Rodrigues again denied enough of the wrestling attempts and finished the night with the cleaner impact. The victory was Rodrigues’ fourth in a row, while Hernandez absorbed a second consecutive defeat.
Main card keeps the finish-heavy tone
Four of the six main-card fights ended inside the distance. Reinier de Ridder made an immediate impact in his return to light heavyweight, stopping Roman Dolidze with strikes at 4:01 of the opening round. Dolidze pursued leg attacks from his back, but de Ridder cleared the danger, settled into top position and unloaded until the contest was stopped. The win gave de Ridder a successful reset at 205 pounds after two losses at middleweight.
MarQuel Mederos produced another major result at lightweight by stopping Mason Jones at 2:07 of round two. Their opening round was competitive and fast, and Jones appeared to be gaining ground early in the second. Mederos changed the fight with a right hand that badly hurt Jones, then followed with a long series of unanswered punches until referee Jason Herzog stepped in. Carli Judice needed even less time. She folded Jeisla Chaves with a front kick to the body at 1:39 of round one, extending her winning streak to four. Anthony Wint opened the main card by putting Terrance Chatman to sleep with an arm-triangle choke at 4:29 of the first round in his UFC debut. The only other main-card decision saw Vitor Petrino sweep all three scorecards against Serghei Spivac.
Padilla leads a six-finish preliminary card
Chris Padilla delivered the latest finish of the evening in literal terms. After a close fight with Nasrat Haqparast, Padilla dropped his opponent late in round three, locked a standing arm-triangle choke and drove the action to the canvas. Referee Frank Trigg stopped the bout at 4:59 after Haqparast lost consciousness. The technical submission moved Padilla to 5-0-1 in the UFC and turned a fight that seemed headed to the judges into a defining final-second victory.
The rest of the preliminary card maintained the same pace. Jamall Emmers upset Lerryan Douglas with a right hand at 3:38 of round one. Shamil Gaziev knocked out Kennedy Nzechukwu at 1:20 of the first, while Marcio Barbosa stopped Ryan Kuse at 2:47. Jackson McVey finished Wes Schultz with a knee to the body at 4:13, and Shanelle Dyer overwhelmed Elise Reed for a third-round TKO at 1:42. Stan Dorsainvil supplied the preliminary card’s only decision, rallying to beat Gauge Young on three 29-28 scorecards in his short-notice UFC debut.
- UFC Sacramento produced 10 finishes across 13 fights, with six on the preliminary card and four on the main card.
- Rodrigues won the main event by unanimous decision after Hernandez rallied in the middle rounds.
| Event marker | Confirmed result |
|---|---|
| Main event | Gregory Rodrigues defeated Anthony Hernandez by unanimous decision, 48-47, 49-46 and 48-47. |
| Finish rate | Ten of the night’s 13 contests ended by knockout, technical knockout or submission. |
| Latest finish | Chris Padilla submitted Nasrat Haqparast at 4:59 of round three. |
Sacramento received a card with variety rather than a single repeated pattern. The main event became a five-round test of Rodrigues’ damage and Hernandez’s pressure, while the undercard delivered body shots, clean knockouts and submissions from several positions. Rodrigues left with the headline win, de Ridder made his light-heavyweight return count, and Padilla created the night’s most dramatic finish with one second remaining. Taken together, those performances explain why UFC Sacramento was more than its final scorecards: it was a 13-fight event in which only three bouts required the judges.
Sources: UFC.com
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